The ICC has demanded another vice-presidency candidate after John Howard’s nomination was rejected by its executive board in Singapore. A move which began with members from six countries signalling their intention to block the appointment on Tuesday turned into an official rejection of Australia’s former prime minister today.
The ICC confirmed the decision this afternoon following an executive meeting that was supposed to formalise Howard’s election. No vote was taken and Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket were asked to re-nominate a candidate by August 31.
The ICC said in a statement: “Following lengthy consideration it was recognised that the nomination put forward by Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket did not have sufficient support within the ICC board.”
Cricket Australia’s chairman Jack Clarke and his New Zealand Cricket counterpart Alan Isaac said in a joint statement they were “deeply disappointed” after supplying “the best possible candidate”. “We jointly nominated Mr Howard as he possesses significant leadership and administrative skills,” they said. “We believe cricket needs to continue to seek excellence and dispassionate independence in the game’s global governance.
“We were delighted that the most senior world figure ever considered for this role agreed to accept the nomination. We remain convinced it is reasonable for his nomination to be supported by the ICC executive board and we are deeply disappointed by the position taken.”
Initial rumblings from Zimbabwe and South Africa in April became an all-conquering alliance when India signed up along with their subcontinent neighbours this week. It leaves the ICC without a deputy to be paraded alongside India’s Sharad Pawar when he takes over the presidency from David Morgan this week.
The position taken by the six board members on Tuesday night was believed to be an attempt to force Howard to withdraw his nomination before the meeting. Howard remained in the race but lost the one-man raffle at the Raffles convention centre, ending the 70-year-old’s cricket administration career before it was allowed to begin. source: cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content
