LANCASHIRE Cricket Club chairman Jack Simmons is waiting with baited breath to discover whether he will be the new ECB chairman of cricket.

Sources claimed that Simmons, who played for the county in a first-class career that spanned 20 years, had been handed the job of replacing Dennis Amiss - who beat Simmons to the post of ECB deputy chairman.

But the 66-year-old, who was proposed by Yorkshire and seconded by Lancashire and Essex, is still awaiting the ballot of ECB members and claimed that the decision was far from a forgone conclusion as Durham chairman Clive Leach is still in the running.

But he admitted that it was a position that excited him greatly.

He said: "The biggest honour you can have as a player is to represent your country.

"The biggest honour you can have at boardroom level for me is to be the chairman of cricket and if I'm able to get that job then it will be a privilege and an honour.

"But the decision is now with the ECB members and we should find out in early February.

"The position would concentrate on domestic cricket, which suits me down to the ground. I've always been a big advocate of county cricket but nothing has been decided as yet and we just have to wait and see."

Should Simmons get the role at the ECB, he would be able to keep the chairmanship of Lancashire if re-elected at the AGM.