ICC chairperson Jay Shah and former India captain Sourav Ganguly have been inducted in Marylebone Cricket Club’s newly instituted World Cricket Connects Advisory Board.
MCC’s new global advisory board will replace its world cricket committee.
The board is expected to discuss the many challenges and opportunities in the sport during a discussion at the Lord’s in June.
The board was spawned out of the World Cricket Connects forum hosted by the MCC at Lord’s in 2024 when 120 of the leading voices in the sport gathered to discuss the game.
The MCC said it wants the board, which will meet virtually in the main, to be a “leading symposium” in the sport “to ensure cricket’s future success”.
Jay Shah, 36, became the youngest ever chairman of the ICC when he succeeded New Zealander Greg Barclay in December 2024.
MCC, the custodian of the laws of cricket, on Tuesday announced that World Cricket Connects, the event to bring together the most prominent thinkers, voices and influencers in the game, will take place once again this year.
“The forum, which proved hugely popular in bringing together influential people from across all aspects of cricket in its inaugural year in 2024, will be held ahead of the ICC World Test Championship Final between South Africa and Australia,” an MCC release read.
The advisory board will be chaired by former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who served as MCC president from October 2019 to September 2021 and was the first non-British person to hold the role.
Former international captains Andrew Strauss and Graeme Smith as well as current England women’s captain Heather Knight have also accepted offers to join the advisory board.
MCC chair Mark Nicholas said: “We have assembled an impressive group of the best minds in cricket across several different areas relevant to our sport.
“I am delighted to be working with this experienced group and excited about what we can collectively achieve for the benefit of the global game.”
