John Howard was always going to be a bad choice for the ICC presidency. But with his nomination collapsing at the first hurdle, no one could have understood how bad it would get.
"John Howard for President". It makes about as much sense as "Joh For PM" and now looks just as doomed. The supposedly-innocuous bid to parachute Howard into the vice-presidency of the International Cricket Council from July this year, and by virtue of succession, its presidency from July 2012, appears dead in the water.
"Howard's future in retirement? I've come up with three options:
(a) A ceremonial role (eg: patron, no.1 ticket holder, mascot) with one or more of the Australian Rugby Union, Cricket Australia or the Australian Olympic team...."- Rick Eyre, 1.12.07
Let's just recap a sequence of events involving the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) over the past year or so: