The ICC President, Percy Sonn has passed away in Cape Town on 27th May following complications after a colon surgery. Sonn was just 57 years old. The South African was supposed to be in the post till 2009. He had succeeded Pakistan’s Ehsan Mani in June 2006 to become the sixth President of the ICC, the first ever from the African Continent. With his untimely death, Sonn’s tenure as the ICC President was just ten months! Sonn is survived by his wife and three children.
Percy Sonn’s full name is Percival Henry Frederick Sonn. He was born on 25th September in 1949. The South African never played cricket at the international level, not even at the first class level. He was a pure cricket administrator. He was a law graduate. Sonn had served as the Vice President of the ICC for two years since July 2004. He was also the President of the UCBSA (South African Cricket Board) for three years till 2003.
Sonn was a quite a controversial figure. One of his most embarrassing moments came during the time his country had hosted its first ever World Cup. During a group game between India and Netherlands at Paarl, Sonn was so drunk that he had almost fallen out of his trousers according to media reports. Sonn’s another infamous moment came when he had forced Jacques Rudolph, middle order batsman to be dropped from the playing XI to make room for Justin Ontong, a black cricketer, who was not as good a batsman and an average spinner during a test match against Australia in 2002. The ICC President was one of the officials who was booed during the presentation of the World Cup Final in Bridgetown.
Malcolm Speed, the ICC Chief Executive has stated that the acting president in place of Sonn will be Sir John Anderson of New Zealand or HRH Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia. Either of them would be chairing the ICC’s annual meeting in June.