NEW DELHI: Batting greats Rahul Dravid and Mahela Jayawardene joined the ICC’s cricket committee on Friday in the first major appointments at the game’s governing body since India’s Shashank Manohar was elected chairman.

Former Indian skipper Dravid and retired Sri Lankan strokemaker Jayawardene, two of the biggest run-scorers of all-time, will join the likes of Australian coach Darren Lehman and the umpire Richard Kettleborough on a body which has a crucial say in playing matters.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said Jayawardene and Dravid had joined the committee after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan completed their three-year terms.

Anil Kumble, another former India leg-spinner, will remain as chair of the committee after being re-elected for a second stint, the ICC added in a statement after a meeting at their headquarters in Dubai.

The appointments come a day after Manohar, a former president of the Indian cricket board, was unanimously elected as the first independent chairman of the world’s governing body.

The cricket committee currently consists of the following members:

Chairman: Anil Kumble (former India captain)Ex-Officio: Shashank Manohar (ICC chairman) and David Richardson (ICC chief executive)

Past player representative: Andrew Strauss (former England captain); Mahela Jayawardena (former Sri Lanka captain)

Current player representative: Rahul Dravid (former India captain); Tim May (former Australia off-spinner and ex-CEO of FICA)

Full member team coach representative: Darren Lehmann (Australia coach)

Associate representative: Kevin O’Brien (Ireland all-rounder)

Women’s cricket representative: Clare Connor (former England women’s team captain)

Full member representative: David White (NZC chief executive).

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2016