Former Sri Lanka Cricketer Kumar Sangakkara has been named as the first non-British president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The wicket keeper batsman has been appointed at the post for one year and will begin his tenure on 1 October 2019.
The 41-year-old's nomination was announced by the current President, Anthony Wreford, at the MCC Annual General Meeting at Lord's on Wednesday.
“It is a huge honour to be named the next president of MCC and it is a role that I am thoroughly looking forward to,” said Sangakkara. “For me, MCC is the greatest cricket club in the world, with its global reach and continued progress for cricket on and off the pitch.”
Sangakkara, who was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the club in 2012, had delivered a memorable MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture in 2011. In the speech he talked about the power and importance of cricket in healing the wounds of civil war in his country Sri Lanka and recounted his experience of the Lahore terror attack in 2009.
Apart from his off-the-field heroics at Lord’s, Sangakkara has hit two centuries at the ‘Home of Cricket’. First, he had scored 147 in the drawn Test against England in 2014, and 112 in an ODI match on the same tour. Thus, his name appears twice on the Honours Boards at Lord’s.
MCC, which owns Lord's and acts as the guardian of the laws of the game of cricket, was founded in 1787 and had 168 presidents in its history, which includes one member of the royal family but none from overseas.
Wreford said: “As MCC looks to broaden both our horizons and international reputation, I’m delighted that Kumar has accepted the invitation, which he did in January this year, to be the next president of MCC.
"He is an outstanding individual both on and off the field and will make a huge contribution to the club. In a World Cup and Ashes year he will also have a significant role to play as president designate," concluded Wreford.
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