MUMBAI: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced a new two-year deal with Sky TV for the broadcasting of all home domestic and international cricket matches.

The new agreement runs through to March 2014 and will include tours by England, West Indies and India. Part of the new commitment from Sky TV is to broadcast a number of domestic HRV Cup matches in the Friday night time slot.

NZC CEO David White said that he was delighted to continue the partnership with Sky and is particularly excited about the agreement to showcase HRV Cup games on Friday evenings.

"New Zealand Cricket has enjoyed a strong relationship with SKY and we are thrilled to be extending our agreement.Sky?s commitment to cricket is highlighted by their offer to broadcast HRV Cup matches on Friday evenings, helping extend the reach of our highly entertaining Twenty20 competition. Part of NZC?s mission is to have more people playing and more people watching cricket. The partnership with SKY will play a key role in delivering on that vision."

Sky Television director of sports content Richard Last said, "We are especially excited about the introduction of Friday night HRV Cup matches where we will have the opportunity to provide even greater exposure for cricket in this country. There are some of important international tours coming up, including England and India, and we are looking forward to showcasing top international cricket from New Zealand to fans around the world. We very much look forward to continuing this association over the next two years."

MUMBAI: The role of the International Cricket Council (ICC) president will be reformed after the Annual Conference in 2014 to separate the Chairman of the Board position from that of the ICC President.

Until then, the current roles for the ICC President and Vice president will remain, after which the Vice-Presidency will cease to exist and a new Chairman of the Board post created.

The term of office for the new ceremonial role for the President will be one year and will rotate, as it currently does, amongst the Members. The President will not be a voting member of the Board.

The Chairman, who will be appointed by the Board for a maximum of six years (3 x two year terms), will also be non-voting.

Until the President?s role has been confirmed, the joint nomination of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board for the role of vice president 2012-14 was deferred until the amended Articles have been considered by ICC Annual Conference.

The ICC executive board held the second of its scheduled 2012 meetings in Dubai this weekend. The Nominations Committee reported that they have arrived at a shortlist of four candidates who will be interviewed in due course to replace Haroon Lorgat, the current ICC CEP, who vacates his position at the end of the Annual Conference in June 2012.

In relation to the post of Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, the ICC Board decided to review the current terms of appointment. This review will cover potential remuneration and also the current restraints on the chairman in relation to media roles.

In the meantime, Clive Lloyd, whose term as chairman had recently expired, will be requested to continue until the ICC Annual Conference in June.

The Board also ratified the following appointments from the Chief Executives? Committee (CEC):

? Re-appoint Clare Connor, the current chairperson of the ICC Women?s Committee, for a second three-year term;

? Re-appoint Ravi Shastri for a second three-year term representing the media;

? Appoint New Zealand Cricket CEO David White as the CEC representative; and

? Appoint John Stephenson as MCC?s representative.

Twenty20 strategy: The ICC Board received a report of the strategic discussions held at the Chief Executive?s Committee (CEC) in March 2012 and confirmed the following recommendations:

? to increase, from 2014 onwards, the number of teams participating in the ICC World T20 from 12 to 16 men?s teams;

? the event should remain a joint men?s and women?s event;

? three additional Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) may be played in the year in which the ICC World Twenty20 is being staged provided there is a corresponding reduction in the maximum number of permitted ODIs (as per ICC Scheduling guidelines-the current regulations permit a maximum of 12 T20Is for each Full Member in any one year).

ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said, ?The need to manage volume of cricket was considered when agreeing to allow the additional T20Is to be played in a year.?

The Board confirmed the hosting for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates in October 2013 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 qualifying event in New Zealand in 2014.

The ICC has already commenced with planning for its new rights cycle post 2015 and a key prerequisite of this is to determine the ICC events that will be staged. The Board has agreed the following events schedule: