Kumar Sangakkara will be the next president of Marylebone Cricket Club. The former Sri Lankan international will take up the post on 1st October 2019 and will serve for a period of one year. He will become the first non-British president.
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator and former cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan national team. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential cricketers and one of the greatest batsmen of all-time.
May 1, 2019 KumarSangakkara’s nomination was announced by the current President, Anthony Wreford, at the MCC Annual General Meeting at Lord’s.
Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lanka captain, has been announced as the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and will take up his one-year post on October 1, 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara named as first non-British President of MCC
Kumar Sangakkara named as first non-British President of MCC #lankabusinessnews #lords #mcc #srilankacricket #cricket #kumarsangakkara
Posted by Lanka Business News on Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Sangakkara is already heavily involved with the club, having delivered a powerful and memorable MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture in 2011, in which he touched on the power and importance of cricket in healing the wounds of civil war in his native Sri Lanka, and recounted his experience of the Lahore terror attack in 2009.
In 2012, he was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the club, and, in the same year, he joined MCC’s World Cricket committee and remains an active member.
His connections with MCC go back a long way: he played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen’s Park, Chesterfield. He also played for MCC against an International XI at Lord’s in the 2005 Tsunami Relief Match. Proceeds from that match were used by the Foundation of Goodness to set up the MCC Centre of Excellence at Seenigama in Sri Lanka.
Sangakkara appears twice on the Honours Boards at Lord’s, having scored 147 in the drawn Test against England in 2014, and 112 in their ODI victory on the same tour, an achievement that earned him one of the inaugural placings on the new limited-overs boards that was unveiled earlier this year.
Sangakkara’s year of office will begin on October 1, 2019 and will conclude on September 30, 2020. His tenure will encompass two England Tests against West Indies and Pakistan, and the launch of The Hundred competition.
Article Courtesy – Lord’s Cricket Grounds Website and Cricinfo