JOHANNESBURG (Reuters)
Former Test player Dave Richardson has said he is to accept a top post with the International Cricket Council (ICC). Richardson, South Africa's wicketkeeper in 42 Test matches after the end of the country's apartheid-induced isolation from world cricket, is to be appointed to a newly-created position of ICC general manager (cricket), national radio station SAFM reported.

"I believe that ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed identified a slight credibility problem for the ICC because of the lack of ex-players involved in the administering of the game, so that is why I have been appointed," Richardson, a qualified lawyer, told South African-based website Super Cricket from London.

"There isn't much that doesn't fall into my portfolio," Richardson was quoted as saying. "Disciplinary procedures, playing conditions, law changes, prize money, match fees and allowances and the Test championship - not to mention a method of structuring the international one-day game into a formatted championship. There are many other things I'll be involved with, too, including player security and the threat of match fixing."

One of Richardson's more pressing tasks will be to examine the structure of the newly-established Test championship, which rewards teams with two points if they win a series, but does not take into account the value of away wins nor the size of victories. "I'd like to think we could do something to improve it," Richardson said. "At the moment we have a situation where some Tests at the end of a series could be 'dead' and therefore vulnerable to manipulation. Ideally players need to be playing at 100 percent all the time, so the right motivation is important."

Since his retirement in 1998, Richardson has acted as the commercial and legal representative for the South African squad, and has been a regular television commentator in South Africa. "It is a huge commitment but it is also really, really exciting and I'm very motivated by the challenge," Richardson added. "Of course there will be plenty of travelling around the world but the position is based in London so South Africa will become just one of many countries that I'll be working with."

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