ABC.net.au
By Sally Sara
1 July 2010
TONY EASTLEY: Cricket Australia says it is astounded by the rejection of John Howard for the role.
Rachel Carbonell is speaking here with Cricket Australia’s public affairs general manager Peter Young.
RACHEL CARBONELL: John Howard says he won’t be withdrawing his nomination so what now will Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket do?
PETER YOUNG: What we’ll be doing is reconvening with our respective boards. Our two chairmen have got approval from our boards to support John Howard’s nomination as the only approval they took to Singapore.
So before we discuss process or names we’ll be reconvening at a board level, we’ll then talk with each other and decide what to do moving forward.
RACHEL CARBONELL: John Howards says that this is a rejection of the two cricket boards and that those cricket boards now need to seriously think about the implications for them.
PETER YOUNG: Certainly we were, as our chairman said last night, gutted at the response. We followed the process exactly.
We’ve put up the most eminent candidate that has ever been considered for that role and we believe he is the best candidate that we can put forward.
RACHEL CARBONELL: And by that do you mean what you do in terms of what candidate is put forward or what you do in terms of the two cricket board’s actual role?
PETER YOUNG: That will be a matter for our directors and our chairmen to discuss when we meet.
RACHEL CARBONELL: Former head of New Zealand Cricket Sir John Anderson’s name’s been widely touted already, what can you say about that?
PETER YOUNG: What the two chairmen said last night was that they are not going to discuss particular names or specific process until they have had a chance to take advice from their own directors and then talk together again.
TONY EASTLEY: Cricket Australia’s Peter Young speaking to Rachel Carbonell in Melbourne.
Former Sri Lankan captain and now a member of the Sri Lankan parliament Arjuna Ranatunga says John Howard would have been good for international cricket and his nomination should have been accepted.
Mr Howard has also been praised by Zimbabwe’s sports minister.
South Asia correspondent, Sally Sara reports.
SALLY SARA: It’s not the kind of headline John Howard was hoping for.
REPORTER: And in breaking news coming in the ICC board has rejected John Howard’s nomination for the top post the ICC.
SALLY SARA: But, the former prime minister has won some support.
Retired Sri Lankan cricket captain and now member of the Sri Lankan Parliament Arjuna Ranatunga says Mr Howard would have been a good choice to protect the game.
ARJUNA RANATUNGA: I’m sure that John Howard had that capacity and the capability of developing cricket into some of the areas which has been very neglected badly.
SALLY SARA: The cricketing memories run long and deep in South Asia. Mr Ranatunga says many Sri Lankans find it hard to forgive Mr Howard for his comments in the Muralitharan chucking controversy.
ARJUNA RANATUNGA: When a prime minister of a country make a statement like that manner, it hurts.
SALLY SARA: Arjuna Ranatunga says members of the International Cricket Council need to step back and look at the big picture, instead of being caught up in petty issues.
Zimbabwe’s sports minister David Coltart has also called for restraint. He asked Zimbabwean cricket officials not to sign the letter against John Howard’s nomination.
DAVID COLTART: I asked them to formally abstain and that is what they appear to have done.
SALLY SARA: While some officials from Zimbabwe Cricket are supporters of President Mugabe and detest John Howard, the sports minister sees it the other way.
David Coltart is from the former opposition party and says John Howard deserves credit for speaking out against the Mugabe regime.
DAVID COLTART: We are very grateful there were people like John Howard in the international community who stood up and condemned these human rights abuses.
SALLY SARA: But, Mr Howard’s outspokenness has spooked some Zimbabwean cricket officials who feared he would go on a crusade against corruption and mismanagement.
The ICC has shelved an audit report into Zimbabwe Cricket for the past two years.
David Coltart has seen it, and says ironically it exonerates many of the current officials.
DAVID COLTART: So, if the world thinks that that report contains ammunition to sink the current administration of Zimbabwe Cricket, well then they have got it wrong.
SALLY SARA: The toxic mix of politics, billion dollar business, grudges and corruption has left John Howard sitting in the outer for now.
This is Sally Sara reporting for AM.