Seamer James Harris is to remain as Chair of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, taking his tenure up to February 2025 following a re-election.
Initially appointed as Middlesex’s PCA representative in 2017, he quickly established himself as a leading voice of the Players’ Committee and three years later, he became one of the PCA’s first Vice Chairs, alongside England captain Heather Knight.
Following Daryl Mitchell completing a maximum four-year stint leading the Association in 2021, Harris was elected in the role as the 15th Chair, supported by Knight and Derbyshire all-rounder Anuj Dal who joined the PCA Board in the Vice Chair position vacated by Harris.
With Harris’ term set end at the PCA’s AGM on Tuesday 28 February, an independent election process has taken place since late 2022, which has resulted in current players re-appointing the former England Lions paceman.
The process saw the Players’ Committee contacted by an independent specialist in sports employment law, with each of the 23 members across the men’s and women’s game consulting their squads before confirming Harris to be selected for a second term.
In accordance with the PCA constitution, this will be Harris’ final term as each Chair may complete a maximum of two, two-year stints and the decision will be ratified at the AGM later this month.
In his first term, the 32-year-old navigated the Association through the Covid pandemic recovery, represented the PCA in parliament at the DCMS Select Committee and has overseen the subsequent strides in the EDI space.
Also a Director of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust through his role as PCA Chair, Harris went above and beyond to support the players’ charity in 2021, cycling over 1,000km in a loop that started and ended in Cardiff via the Headingley to Lord’s bike ride.
With almost 300 professional appearances, 683 wickets and 4,751 runs to his name and plying his trade back at his home county of Glamorgan since the beginning of the 2022 campaign, Harris has a considerable amount of experience and an extensive understanding of player issues.
PCA Chair, James Harris, said: “Being re-elected is a huge honour, I’ve really enjoyed the first two years. Having an extra two years will be brilliant and I’m really looking forward to pushing through some meaningful change in my second term.
“From an EDI standpoint I think the PCA has done a lot of really good work and the appointment of Donna Fraser as EDI Director is very exciting and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.
“One thing I’d like to focus on is the importance of the reps role and making sure that they feel well compensated and a big part of the PCA because they do some really valuable work at the clubs.
“The PCA has a huge role to play in the evolution of the game worldwide, we need to make sure that we’re moving forward with the game, keeping pace with the game, because there’s so many opportunities to play around the world in different tournaments which wasn’t available 10 years ago.
“I think with the opportunity for players to travel and improve their game around the world, there really is no better time to be a professional cricketer than right now and I can only see that trending in one direction as we move forward.”