HEREFORDSHIRE Cricket Limited appointed a new chairman during its Annual General Meeting.

Derek Ling was elected into the role and will replace Gary King who stood down after holding the position for more than a decade.

The group, which is based on Pentland Gardens in Hereford, is responsible for the development of cricket in the county, as well as supporting clubs to develop their facilities and coaching capabilities.

It also supports all the county’s cricket associations such as those representing coaches, officials and groundsmen.

“I’m very proud to have been given the opportunity to take on this role and look forward to building on the excellent work Gary has done for a number of years," said Ling.

"Gary will be a hard act to follow as he has been a fantastic servant to cricket in Herefordshire.

"I’d like to express my gratitude to him for the huge amount of time and effort he put into this role - I know he was well respected by agencies locally as well as cricketing bodies across the country.

“It is now my job to build on the work Gary has done and drive this organisation forward. With that in mind I see my major priority as being to try to get more people playing cricket and achieving their potential.

“In order to do that we need good, secure facilities and a strong league system so we are fortunate to have good relationships with all of our partners and associations, which we are aiming to improve still further."

Mr Ling becomes chairman of a board that now contains six other directors - five having been appointed earlier this year.

Standing down, King said: "I’ve very much enjoyed my time as chairman but the time is now right for me to step aside."