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Canberra (Australia), July 31 (ANI): Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has reiterated his disappointment over being passed over for the nomination of vice-president of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Cricket Australia (CA) abandoned its campaign to have Howard take the job, which would have eventually led to him becoming ICC president in 2012, during a special board telephone hook-up on Friday.

In an odd and confusing statement, CA reaffirmed that Howard remained the best candidate to become vice-president for a two-year term, then president from 2012, but supported New Zealand Cricket chairman Alan Isaac as the regional nomination.

“”I remain passionate about cricket in Australia and around the world,” the China Daily quoted Howard as telling The Weekend Australian on Friday night.

“The board is disappointed and most concerned by the ICC executive board’s lack of support of his nomination and regards it as completely unacceptable that no reason has been provided as to why he has not been accepted,” the CA told The Australian.

“In the circumstances, the CA board is not prepared to nominate any other candidate for the role. The CA board accepts that the New Zealand nominee, Alan Isaac, is eminently qualified to fill the role of ICC vice-president and president, and given the stance of the ICC executive board with the nomination of Howard, will support his name being forwarded to the ICC for ratification,” it said further.

Howard’s hopes of gaining cricket’s top job were dashed by a bizarre backroom rejection from the ICC’s dominate Afro-Asia bloc at last month’s annual meeting in Singapore.

This was despite passionate pleas from Isaac and Clarke to the other eight presidents and chairman of the 10 so-called Test-playing countries which make up the ICC board.

In the end, only Australia, New Zealand and England supported Howard; the Afro-Asia bloc signed a letter outside the annual meeting opposing Howard’s nomination before refusing to have a formal vote. (ANI)