Howard gets a thumbs down
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been a great supporter of cricket in the country. He has long been vocal about his opinions on various matters related to the sport. Whether Australia has lost or won, Howard has always had a say in the matter. He was one of the biggest fans and enthusiasts of the game as far as any head of state in any cricket playing nation is concerned.
So, John Howard may be in love with the sport of cricket but it doesn’t look like the administrators of the game across the world care much about it. His wish to be a part of the apex body of the sport hasn’t gone down too well with many boards among the Test playing nations.
Howard is contesting for the post of the vice-president for the International Cricket Council. To be nominated to the post he needs seven out of the 10 votes from full member nations. Three boards namely Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and South Africa have openly opposed his nomination from the start. But now it has emerged that the Board of Control for Cricket in India may also not support his candidacy. If that indeed does happen, then Howard will not be able to prove his majority and his election would be impossible.
The executive committee of the ICC is supposed to meet in Singapore on Wednesday to finalize the candidates for the post of President and Vice-President. Former BCCI President Sharad Pawar is set to take over the post of the ICC President after the meeting. Currently David Morgan holds the post of the President.
The Australian Cricket Board meanwhile is in talks with Howard, so as to get him to withdraw his name from the election process. If things stand the way they currently are then the ICC will end up being without a deputy for Pawar once the elections conclude on Wednesday.
According to reports, only Australia, England and New Zealand are in favour of Howard’s nomination. Six boards have apparently signed a letter against the nomination of the former Australia Prime Minister.
Howard’s nomination by Cricket Australia and the New Zealand Cricket Board was confirmed in March this year. He was the joint nominee from the two boards and if appointed would have ended up taking up the post of the President in 2012. By April it was being expected that he would take over the post but the Zimbabwe Cricket Board was the first to raise questions about the election.
Howards was not a very popular Prime Minister during his time among the cricket playing nations. The banning of Zimbabwe from international cricket may have come about as a result of his actions as well since he stopped the Australian team from touring the troubled country in 2007.
Sri Lankan Cricket was also not too convinced about the choice of Howard, as according to them, Howard lacks experience and expertise and does not have any background in the sport. Muralitharan's issues with Howard are well-chronicled.
During the past few weeks Howard and officials of Cricket Australia have been meeting up with various board officials to smooth relations between the man and the boards and to add support to his candidacy for the post of vice-president. But now as the elections are in front it looks like the efforts have been wasted.
Meanwhile Cricket Australia is just waiting for the final confirmation of the result which more or less looks inevitable. A formal announcement on the matter is only expected on Thursday when the two-day ICC meet concludes in Singapore.
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