MUMBAI: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced a new two-year deal with Sky TV for the broadcasting of all home domestic and international cricket matches.

The new agreement runs through to March 2014 and will include tours by England, West Indies and India. Part of the new commitment from Sky TV is to broadcast a number of domestic HRV Cup matches in the Friday night time slot.

NZC CEO David White said that he was delighted to continue the partnership with Sky and is particularly excited about the agreement to showcase HRV Cup games on Friday evenings.

"New Zealand Cricket has enjoyed a strong relationship with SKY and we are thrilled to be extending our agreement.Sky?s commitment to cricket is highlighted by their offer to broadcast HRV Cup matches on Friday evenings, helping extend the reach of our highly entertaining Twenty20 competition. Part of NZC?s mission is to have more people playing and more people watching cricket. The partnership with SKY will play a key role in delivering on that vision."

Sky Television director of sports content Richard Last said, "We are especially excited about the introduction of Friday night HRV Cup matches where we will have the opportunity to provide even greater exposure for cricket in this country. There are some of important international tours coming up, including England and India, and we are looking forward to showcasing top international cricket from New Zealand to fans around the world. We very much look forward to continuing this association over the next two years."

MUMBAI: The role of the International Cricket Council (ICC) president will be reformed after the Annual Conference in 2014 to separate the Chairman of the Board position from that of the ICC President.

Until then, the current roles for the ICC President and Vice president will remain, after which the Vice-Presidency will cease to exist and a new Chairman of the Board post created.

The term of office for the new ceremonial role for the President will be one year and will rotate, as it currently does, amongst the Members. The President will not be a voting member of the Board.

The Chairman, who will be appointed by the Board for a maximum of six years (3 x two year terms), will also be non-voting.

Until the President?s role has been confirmed, the joint nomination of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board for the role of vice president 2012-14 was deferred until the amended Articles have been considered by ICC Annual Conference.

The ICC executive board held the second of its scheduled 2012 meetings in Dubai this weekend. The Nominations Committee reported that they have arrived at a shortlist of four candidates who will be interviewed in due course to replace Haroon Lorgat, the current ICC CEP, who vacates his position at the end of the Annual Conference in June 2012.

In relation to the post of Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, the ICC Board decided to review the current terms of appointment. This review will cover potential remuneration and also the current restraints on the chairman in relation to media roles.

In the meantime, Clive Lloyd, whose term as chairman had recently expired, will be requested to continue until the ICC Annual Conference in June.

The Board also ratified the following appointments from the Chief Executives? Committee (CEC):

? Re-appoint Clare Connor, the current chairperson of the ICC Women?s Committee, for a second three-year term;

? Re-appoint Ravi Shastri for a second three-year term representing the media;

? Appoint New Zealand Cricket CEO David White as the CEC representative; and

? Appoint John Stephenson as MCC?s representative.

Twenty20 strategy: The ICC Board received a report of the strategic discussions held at the Chief Executive?s Committee (CEC) in March 2012 and confirmed the following recommendations:

? to increase, from 2014 onwards, the number of teams participating in the ICC World T20 from 12 to 16 men?s teams;

? the event should remain a joint men?s and women?s event;

? three additional Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) may be played in the year in which the ICC World Twenty20 is being staged provided there is a corresponding reduction in the maximum number of permitted ODIs (as per ICC Scheduling guidelines-the current regulations permit a maximum of 12 T20Is for each Full Member in any one year).

ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said, ?The need to manage volume of cricket was considered when agreeing to allow the additional T20Is to be played in a year.?

The Board confirmed the hosting for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates in October 2013 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 qualifying event in New Zealand in 2014.

The ICC has already commenced with planning for its new rights cycle post 2015 and a key prerequisite of this is to determine the ICC events that will be staged. The Board has agreed the following events schedule:

MUMBAI: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Pitch International have signed a long-term sponsorship and media rights agreement which will underpin the financial security of cricket in New Zealand.

In the agreement, Pitch International has secured all New Zealand Cricket?s media rights for international matches played by the Blackcaps in New Zealand for the 2012/13 to 2019/20 seasons. The agreement grants Pitch the world-wide rights to distribute the matches across various platforms including television, radio, mobile and Internet while NZC retains the rights to matches broadcast in New Zealand and to its domestic competitions.

Pitch International specialises in the representation of media rights, selling content globally across all media. They work with sporting federations, clubs and global stars including the English Rugby Union, The Football Association, Six Nations and Uefa.

In the Future Tours Programme, India and Australia visit twice and England visits three times in the next eight years.

NZC CEO David White said, ?New Zealand Cricket is delighted to secure the length and value of this extremely important relationship with Pitch. We are thrilled that Pitch will be helping put the Blackcaps in front of so many fans around the world.

"This agreement puts NZC in a position to safeguard the future of our game by allowing us to concentrate on driving participation and support of cricket. Media rights provide revenue that enables us to fund grassroots and community cricket investments, domestic cricket competitions and retain our best professional players in New Zealand?.

Pitch International founding partner Jon Owen said ?We look forward to representing the Blackcaps brand around the world and building long term value for New Zealand Cricket and its commercial partners.

MUMBAI: The newly-appointed New Zealand Cricket (NZC) CEO David White has been briefed about the progress being made by Cricket Holdings America LLC (CHALLC) towards bringing a professional Twenty20 league to the United States of America (USA).

White, who took over at NZC in January, met Neil Maxwell, a NZC-appointed director of CHALLC, in Auckland. White said: ?It was very exciting to hear from Neil about the progress that has already been made to turn the dream of professional Twenty20 cricket in the USA into reality.

?Neil briefed me on all aspects of the project and I am looking forward to working with CHALLC and the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) to take matters forward over the coming weeks and months.?

CHALLC is a joint venture between NZC and the USACA for the development of cricket within the USA. It is targetting the launch of a Twenty20 league next year.

Maxwell said, ?It was good to sit down with David to bring him up to speed on what CHALLC is doing. Since Keith Wyness?s appointment as CHALLC?s CEO last month we have had a significant number of people contacting us, not only to congratulate Keith on his new role but also enquiring how they can get involved in the project.

?That level of interest is extremely encouraging and we look forward to taking matters forward with ever-increasing momentum.?

MUMBAI: Taking a major step towards building world-class cricket in the United States of America (USA), Cricket Holdings America (CHALLC) has appointed Keith Wyness as its chief executive officer.

Wyness, 54, will be responsible for the delivery of a business plan which will include the sale of Twenty20 franchises for a league planned to start in the summer of 2013.

Wyness has extensive experience in managing the business of elite-level sport, having worked on the Sydney Olympics of 2000 and as CEO of two Premier League football clubs, Everton in England and Aberdeen in Scotland.

He has also spent more than a decade living and working in the USA, something that has provided him with an understanding of the country?s sporting landscape, and where cricket does and can fit into that landscape.

CHALLC is a JV between New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) for the development of cricket within the USA.

NZC CEO David White said, ?Cricket Holdings America undertook an extensive, worldwide search to find the right person for the role of CEO and in Keith Wyness we believe we have found that person. What Keith brings to the role is an understanding of sport and its importance in peoples? lives, the business of sport and the USA?s sporting landscape. Keith?s appointment is an important step on the
road towards making regular, top-class cricket in the USA a reality, and with his leadership we look forward to moving forward with increasing speed along that road.?

USACA president Gladstone Dainty said, ?Keith Wyness?s appointment is a hugely positive development towards putting the USA centre-stage in the cricket world. USACA looks forward to working with Keith and New Zealand Cricket to make that a reality.?

Wyness said, ?I am delighted to take up the role of CEO of Cricket Holdings America. It is very rare for an opportunity as exciting as this to come along within sport, to have a clean page to develop what I believe will become a major sport in the USA.

"Cricket is already the second biggest sport in the world and the USA is the biggest commercial market for sport. My role is to marry those two factors together and there is plenty of potential and opportunity to do that. Cricket is already played extensively across the USA with close to 50,000 regular players and it is the world?s second biggest consumer of Internet cricket behind India."

"It means there is already a platform of very interested cricket enthusiasts in the USA and now it is up to us to put together a product that will excite them and also create the opportunity to bring a whole new audience to the game.?