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Patel still undecided

AGENCIES, Johannesburg
The International Cricket Council (ICC) may have jumped the gun while announcing the name of Imtiaz Patel for the chief executive's job.
Patel, the chief executive officer of SuperSport, indicated on Tuesday that he was yet to accept the offer, made on Monday, and said he will consider his position "very carefully in the coming weeks."
A statement from him was released on the SuperSport website, shortly after its spokesman told Cricinfo the deal had not been finalised and Patel was weighing his options.
In his carefully-worded statement. Patel said he was "humbled the ICC has stated that it will invite me to fulfil such an impor tant role within cricket."
"I enjoy a most rewarding and happy career in my current role as CEO of SuperSport, which is a dynamic organisation within a wonderful international group. 1 will therefore be considering my position very carefully during the coming weeks and will be engaging in discussions with the ICC during this period."
Patel said that he would comment further on the issue only after finalising his plans to protect the "interests of the confi-
dentiality of all candidates."
His colleague Guy Hawthorne, the SuperSport spokesperson, confirmed that Patel was still weighing his options
"He has been offered the chief executive's job by ICC, but he hasn't agreed yet," Hawthorne told Cricinfo. "The terms between ICC and Patel have not been agreed upon yet, and noth
ing has been finalised. Patel is still weighing his options."
"We hope he will stay back with us and we will try our best to ensure that he does. Of course, this is Patel's personal decision and it's between him and the ICC. But as of now, at SuperSport, it's business as usual, and Patel remains the chief executive," Hawthorne said.
On Monday, ICC presidentelect David Morgan said in Dubai
that they were in the process of "negotiating the details with Patel before he can be officially appointed” to replace Malcolm Speed, who has been the chief executive since 2001.
Patel's name was recommended to the ICC executive board for a three-year term starting June by a subcommittee comprising Ray Mali, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India president, Creagh O'Connor, the Cricket Australia chairman, and Morgan, with Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, present as a non-voting observer.
Patel, 43, has been the CEO of SuperSport since 2005 and if he takes up the ICC job he will bring wide experience of the high-finance world of television sports coverage after being involved in some of the biggest deals in South African sports history.
Patel joined SuperSport in 2000 after a stint as director of professional cricket with the then United Cricket Board of South Africa.
Patel, a former schoolteacher and first league cricketer, has hands-on experience of administration in major sports through SuperSport's ownership of a professional soccer club and financial stakes in two professional rugby franchises and a cricket franchise.