ROD Bransgrove believes that Tim Lamb's replacement as chief executive of the England and Wales cricket Board should come from outside cricket.

Rose Bowl plc chairman Bransgrove, a member of the 18-man ECB management board, could help decide who replaces Lamb when the 51-year-old steps down in September. Lamb has held the role since 1997 but has been criticised for failing to decide whether England will tour Zimbabwe in October.

Bransgrove said: "And I tend to correspond with First Class Forum chairman Mike Soper's view that we should go outside cricket, go out into the real world and bring in someone with a broad range of commercial and governmental experiences.

We really need someone with outside expertise, because running the ECB encompasses so many things."

Bransgrove added: "It's been tough for Tim. He's a top bloke and has worked very hard, he's always been very diligent and committed but has been doing a pretty much impossible job.

"He's been unfortunate in that there have been some difficult issues to deal with, such as the Zimbabwe affair."