Former aussie Pm John Howard woos the world's cricketing powerhouse after being nominated as ICC vice-president

John Howard woos India after being nominated as ICC vice-president

If Sharad Pawar can do it, so can I. That seems to be the mantra of former Australian prime minister John Howard as regards his credentials to head the International Cricket Council (ICC) after Pawar, now about to take over its reins as president, completes his two-year term in 2012.

Be that as it may, Howard, ever the wily politician, yesterday embarked on an obvious public relations exercise to win over India, the super power in world cricket, saying the country's relative strength and passion for the game should be embraced rather than feared.

Former Australia prime minister John Howard. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

The controversial nomination of the astute and fiercely combative former politician by Australia's cricket czars is an obvious gambit to checkmate India's mounting dominance in the game's corridors of power.

The respected The Australian newspaper has given expression to this paranoia when, while wishing Howard well, it editorialised this morning: "Cricket administration, often to the game's detriment, is dominated by India, which provides at least 70 per cent of revenue from television rights".

The newspaper goes on to take a left-handed swipe at India: "But in working for the good of cricket over vested interests, Mr Howard's political acumen should help him manage such players as the Indian Premier League and Zimbabwe."

Launching his PR blitzu00a0(many Indians have not forgotten his dogged opposition to India during the nuclear saga), John Howard told ABC Radio yesterday: "India is the second most populous country in the world, it's cricket-mad, and they are pluses.

"I think it's entirely wrong to look at the Indian involvement in cricket in a negative light. I think of those millions of people in India and the sub-continent... who play cricket. They play it with a passion and they love it".

Savaged by a section of the Australian media after his unexpected nomination for the post of ICC vice-president (one cricket commentator headlined a story about his incompetence 'Can This Pie-Chucker Run The Cricket World?'), Howard yesterday hit back at suggestions he lacked the skills to take on the prestigious job.

"I think the fact I haven't been involved in cricket administration is explained by the fact I had a day job which made that rather difficult", in a reference to his chequered 30-year political career.

The former Australian PM, a self-confessed 'cricket tragic', defeated Sir John Anderson, his respected and deserving rival from New Zealand, as the region's representative to succeed Sharad Pawar.

One of Howard's critics said of him yesterday that "he couldn't play cricket to save his life", while others have been at pains to criticise the ICC, the game's supreme controlling body, for the mess it is in and to enumerate the enormous challenges it faces in governing the game efficiently.

Routinely lambasted the world over for its appalling state of affairs -- its notorious inefficiency and impotence -- the ICC is in desperate need of strong, knowledgeable and enlightened leadership to handle its many tribulations.

Apart from the cancer of match-fixing, the Twenty20 explosion and its financial ramifications internationally, the future of the 50 overs game, its laws and playing conditions in an ever-changing world, Zimbabwe's efforts to re-enter the international fold and, most importantly, the threat from terrorism, especially in the Indian sub-continent, are in imperative need of deft and determined handling.

Time alone will tell if Sharad Pawar -- and his fellow politico John Howard, after him -- will liberate the ICC from its lassitude and ineptitude.

Meanwhile, all lovers of the game will hope that cricket and politics, eminently quixotic bed-fellows, can mix.

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