The Hindu : Sport : Percy Sonn passes away

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Monday, May 28, 2007
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Percy Sonn passes away

The South African took over as ICC President from Ehsan Mani in last June

Percy Sonn. — PHOTO: AP

Dubai: International Cricket Council President Percy Sonn, who was critically ill for the past few days, died in Cape Town on Sunday.

Sonn, 57, was admitted to the Durbanville clinic in Cape Town last Monday after developing complications from a colon surgery.

Sonn is survived by wife Sandra and three children — a daughter and two sons — as well as his mother, six brothers (two of them elder and four younger) and a sister.

Details of Sonn's funeral were yet to be known.

A former President of the South African Cricket Board, Sonn took over as ICC President from Ehsan Mani of Pakistan in June 2006. His tenure, which was to end in 2008, was extended till 2009 after the Executive Board had a split vote between Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sharad Pawar and ECB head David Morgan last year.

Great skill

``Percy (Sonn) was never afraid to speak his mind but his great skill, especially in meetings where discord was possible, was to do so in such a way that he got everyone together and pulling in the same direction,'' ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said in a statement issued by the ICC.

``Percy was utterly committed to the game at all levels and his mantras were that the game had to be inclusive rather than exclusive and that it had to be played the right way, to be true to the spirit of cricket.''

Sonn's predecessor Mani said: ``As a cricket administrator and a man, Percy Sonn was a giant In all the circles in which he moved, he commanded a huge amount of respect and that was never more obvious than when he was in an ICC Board meeting.''

``Percy Sonn's untimely death has a come as a great shock to all of us in India. On behalf of BCCI and on my personal behalf I extend my condolences to Mrs. Sonn and her family,'' BCCI President Sharad Pawar said in a statement.

``Percy never spoke for the sake of it but when he did speak people listened. He was one of the most intelligent men I have ever met and cricket will be much the poorer with his passing away,'' Mani said.

New President

The process for choosing a new President of the ICC was that under the organisation's Articles, the ICC Board would appoint an acting President until an election could be held.

Details of the form any election may take would be announced in due course, the ICC added. — Agencies

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