Australia, NZ stand by Howard after ICC snub

Key commended Howard, a former Australian prime minister, for vowing not to withdraw from the race for ICC chief, despite his embarrassing and unexplained rejection by the sport’s governing body on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a shocking decision,” Key told a local radio station.

“I saw John on TV saying he’s going to hold his ground and I think he should. He really could do the job and he could eat it up for breakfast.”

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard also backed the veteran politician’s candidacy, which Howard said could have been rejected because of his opposition to the Zimbabwe regime of Robert Mugabe.

“I share some of the concerns he’s voiced publicly about the kind of factors that are influencing this decision,” said Gillard.

“I’d be very happy to offer full support for John Howard to get this role.”

Howard, a passionate cricket lover, was put forward as Australia and New Zealand’s joint candidate for the ICC’s rotating vice presidency, with the expectation that he would be rubber-stamped as its president two years later.

But the ICC refused to vote on his nomination for the role, calling instead for Australia and New Zealand to put forward a new candidate.

Cricket Australia stood by Howard’s nomination Friday as it scrambled to convene an emergency meeting on the issue, which media commentators across the globe have declared a race controversy.

One Indian newscaster asked why “a museum piece, a symbol of the black-white divide, dare or dream of entering world cricket”.

But Cricket Australia said Howard, who was selected after an exhaustive process over former New Zealand Cricket chairman John Anderson, was still the best choice.

“Mr Howard is the most eminent candidate who’s ever been recommended for an ICC role, and he was selected after the most exhaustive process that any ICC candidate has ever been through,” spokesman Peter Young told AFP.

“All we can say is we’ll convene a board meeting, that will be in the near future, and we then need to talk to New Zealand about what we think we’ll do next.”

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s current chief executive, has refused to reveal why Howard’s name was rejected, telling a news conference in Singapore on Thursday that it “does not have to give those reasons”.

But it is understood that opposition from Asian and African nations sealed the fate of Howard, who clashed repeatedly with some of the countries opposed to his ICC bid when he was Australia’s premier from 1996 to 2007.

The ICC has denied there was a rift between Asian and African Test-playing nations and Australia, New Zealand and England, which also supported Howard’s bid, or that it had anything to do with politics.

But Young said the snub “certainly hasn’t done the ICC’s reputation any good”.

“But these things happen and we need to work out what we now do to move forward,” Young said. “There’s no point simply taking our bat and ball and going home.”

New Zealand Cricket also called for an explanation on Howard’s failed bid.

“We need a bit more clarity from the ICC as to why John Howard was unsuitable and rejected,” chief executive Justin Vaughan told The Dominion Post.

The rejection of Howard, known for his tough immigration policies, is believed to stem from his zealous opposition to Robert Mugabe’s government of Zimbabwe, which included sanctions against its cricket officials.

He also incurred the wrath of the powerful Asian cricket bloc in 2004 by labelling Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan a “chucker”, meaning someone with an illegal bowling action.

In 2006, Howard strongly supported Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who outraged Pakistan by halting a Test match and awarding victory to England during a protest over ball-tampering allegations.