The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced that Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Independent Chair of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), will retire from the role at the end of October 2024. This development comes after it was confirmed that ACU chief Alex Marshall is set to retire in November.
Flanagan, who has held his position since May 2010 after replacing Lord Paul Condon has provided invaluable leadership and overseen significant strides to protect the sport against corruption. Incidentally, it was Cordon, who set up the ACU after being appointed to the role by the governing council in 2000 with the primary task of looking at incidents like match-fixing.
During his tenure, Condon had highlighted that the T20 format imposes a big challenge to the integrity of the game, especially in the domestic cricket format. He was right to suggest the same as it proved so during the IPL corruption scandal in 2013.
Meanwhile, Flanagan in June, had told the chief of all cricket boards to adopt stronger anti-corruption laws to prosecute players, match officials, and franchise owners guilty of corrupt practices.
Flanagan was a highly respected police officer and was the home office chief inspector of the constabulary for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, besides holding the position of the chief constable of the police service of Northern Ireland.
The ICC has initiated the process to identify a suitable successor to Flanagan and a recommendation will be put forward at the October Board meetings.
