Cricket: Kiwi back in running for top ICC job

Sir John Anderson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealander Sir John Anderson could be propelled back into the frame for ICC president-designate as moves escalate to veto the nomination of John Howard.

It was reported yesterday that the boards of South Africa and Zimbabwe are behind the move to block the former Australian Prime Minister's candidature, and they have support from India.

Howard must serve a two-year term as deputy president but it is believed that Sharad Pawar, who takes over the presidency next month, does not want the Australian as his deputy.

If Howard's nomination is blocked at the next ICC conference in Singapore in June, David Morgan, the current ICC president and a strong supporter of the self-confessed "cricket tragic", could be forced to ask Australia and New Zealand to forward another candidate.

This has never happened in ICC history before, despite the increasingly fractious nature of world cricket politics.

Anderson, the long-serving ICC board member who controversially missed out to Howard, would be in prime position to take the role, though whether he would want to step into such a hornets' nest would be another matter.

"We're certainly not contemplating any other scenarios other than John Howard being our man," said New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan.

"We believe we went through a very robust and thorough process. We believe the ICC should accept that and accept the nomination."

NZ Cricket yesterday formalised Roger Mortimer's position within the national team's set-up.

Mortimer, who has been working with the country's elite players in setting up high-performance plans since last year, has been given the title of performance director.