Last update on. From the section Cricket
Ian Watmore (left), who presented the County Championship trophy to Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes and CEO Stuart Cain, as well as chairman Mark McCafferty, last month
The England and Wales Cricket Board has lost Chairman Ian Watmore.
After serving just 13 months of a five year term, the 63-year old took over from Colin Graves on September 2020.
According to the ECB, he reached a "mutual arrangement" to resign at the close of the domestic season.
Watmore stated that although it was with regret that he resigned as chair of ECB, he did so out of concern for his own well-being and the well-being of the game that he loves.
He said, "I was appointed to this post in a prepandemic era. But Covid has meant that the role and its demands have been dramatically different from all our initial expectations. This has taken a personal toll.
"Given these facts, I believe the board and the ECB would be better served if there was a new chair to lead it post-pandemic."
"Leaving now at the end gives the board the time to search for a new chair to support the sport through the 2022 season."
Barry O'Brien, Deputy Chairman, will assume the interim role but will not be seeking to hold on to the position for long-term.
Watmore was a former chief executive officer of the Football Association, and he is also a senior civil servant.
As the ECB prepares for its meeting to decide whether or not England's Ashes tour to Australia in winter 2010 will proceed, his departure is a surprise.
In the next few days, the board will meet to discuss the tour. It was threatened by the conditions under which it will be held due to coronavirus.
Monday's statement by the ECB stated that it would "decide whether conditions are sufficient to allow the tour to proceed and enable the selection a squad fitting a series of such significance."
Positive talks between Cricket Australia and England players have taken place since then to bring the tour closer to being confirmed.
Watmore will soon leave after the England women's and men's teams pulled out of limited-overs series in Pakistan that were scheduled for this month.
According to the ECB, there are "increasing worries about traveling to the region" and that the tour will "add to the pressure on a playing group that has already had to deal with a long period operating in restricted Covid environments".
Watmore's tenure also saw the launch of The Hundred by the ECB, a new tournament in which men's and ladies' teams competed in a 100-ball format.
