John Anderson; ICC vice-president nominee after Howard’s rejection
Rejection of Howard’s nomination in the ICC's executive board meeting in Singapore has brought Sir John Anderson into the news once again. John Anderson, former Chairman of NZC (New Zealand Cricket), was New Zealand’s nomination that was later withdrawn in favour of rejected John Howard, former Australian captain.
If the Cricket Australia stops continuing the push for Howard, Anderson would definitely be the logical nomination. The issue is, whether Anderson would still be keen in the bid for vice-president. Anderson, if selected, would qualify for the most influential position of ICC president after completion of Pawar’s two years term in 2012.
Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of NZC said that after the astringent reaction on Howard’s nomination in the past few days, it is unsure whether Anderson would like his name to be sent forward for the ICC vice-president bid. He said that anyone, looking at the events of past few days, would be a little reluctant to put his name forward as one never knows if the nomination is going to be torpedoed. Vaughan said that ICC needs to be a bit clearer about the rejection of the joint nominee, and should clear the matter as to why Howard was unsuitable and rejected.
"He is a busy man," Vaughan told the media reporters. "Since January, he has taken on a few more directorships; he's now the chairman of PGG Wrightsons. The ICC president's role takes a lot of time if you want to do it well. The other point is the events of the last week have probably made the ICC not quite as attractive a proposition to people as it was”.
Sir John Anderson, an accountant by profession with a highly successful banking career remained chairman of New Zealand Cricket for 13 years (1995-2008). He started his career with the merchant bank Southpac in 1972 and became Southpac’s Chief Executive in 1979. After merger of Southpac with the National Bank of New Zealand he became CEO of the National Bank in 1988.
In 1995 Anderson was named as the chairman of NZC and later on became New Zealand’s representative on the ICC board. Anderson did a lot for the restructuring of ICC's internal set-up. He rewrote ICC’s articles and committee manuals. He is also the inaugural (2005) winner of the Blake Medal for his verified leadership in number of fields – business, environment, sport and the community. He stepped down from the chairmanship of New Zealand cricket in 2008 and relinquished his role as country’s representative on the ICC board as well.
The International Cricket Council has a rotational system to decide the presidency. Each region gets a turn to nominate its preferred candidate. This time it was the turn of New Zealand and Australia to nominate their candidate. John Howard was the joint nomination of Cricket Australia (CA) and the New Zealand Cricket (NZC). Vaughan said that ICC should have adhered to the process of rotational nomination.
Initially, New Zealand was ardent for the former chairman of NZC, John Anderson instead but wholeheartedly welcomed the nomination of John Howard.
"Although there were certain people that felt that Sir John was a better candidate at the time of selection, we really felt the process and the integrity of the process was more important," said Vaughan. "So from the date the choice was made we have had no hesitation in giving our full support to John Howard.
He said that NZC, having independent board of directors, is a symbol of good governance for the other cricketing boards. He added that the directors, without any interference, do what they think is the best for cricket and this is what obviously does not apply to the ICC board and that is a shame.
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