Sonn ready to help Zimbabwe cricket

London: Percy Sonn of South Africa took over as president of International Cricket Council in London on Friday and said his first job as the chief of the game's world governing body would be to confront the challenges that the sport faced in Zimbabwe.

Sonn said he had already received an invitation from Zimbabwe Cricket to visit their country and he hoped to understand the problems being faced there.

"What I want is some degree of understanding of the issues that surround the administration of cricket within Zimbabwe," Sonn told ICC's Business Forum at Lord's.

"I am delighted to say I will get that [understanding] following an invitation to visit the country from Zimbabwe Cricket."

Zimbabwe cricket is in turmoil with the national players having left the team which has not played Test cricket since January.

ICC has come under flak in recent times for its purported indifference to problems faced by Zimbabwe Cricket in Robert Mugabe's regime.

Sonn said he would hear first hand the challenges that confront the sport there and discuss how ICC can assist the game in Zimbabwe.

"Once I have done that I will then report back to the ICC's Executive Board so that we, as an organisation, are better informed about what is happening there."

Sonn will make the trip with Malcolm Speed, the ICC Chief Executive.

"By travelling there, talking and listening, I believe we will be in a better position to support cricket in Zimbabwe at a time when such support is clearly needed," Sonn said.

The 56-year-old Sonn is the sixth man to fill the top post and the first from Africa. He will be president for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three.

Sonn never played at international level but has been a leading cricket administrator in South Africa.

He played a crucial role when South Africa returned to world cricket after the fall of apartheid in 1991.

He was president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa for three years until 2003.

Sonn also worked as a public prosecutor and a legal adviser to the South African Police Service. He represented the UCBSA at the ICC during the match-fixing controversies in 2000.

He is currently the chief executive officer of a forensic investigation company.