LONDON, July 7: Percy Sonn was installed as International Cricket Council (ICC) president on Friday and predicted the next 12 months would be extremely important for the game's future.

“During that time we will be negotiating the sale of our commercial and broadcast rights for the next eight years to 2015,” the 56-year-old South African told the ICC's Business Forum at Lord's after taking over from Pakistani Ehsan Mani.

“The last time we did that in 2000 we received $550 million and that money has benefited every one of our members.

“It provided financial security that has allowed us to develop plans to take the game forward and the next agreement will, we hope, do the same.”

Sonn, a former president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said the ICC must not let financial matters completely dictate its long-term strategy.

“While commercialism is important, we must not let it dominate the landscape or lose sight of what this great game is all about,” he said.—Reuters