Australian former PM disappointed at being passed over for regional cricket council nomination
17:17, July 31, 2010 
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Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
Australian former prime minister John Howard has reiterated his disappointment at being passed over for president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), local media reported on Saturday.
"I remain passionate about cricket in Australia and around the world," the former prime minister told The Weekend Australian on Friday night.
Cricket Australia (CA) abandoned its campaign to have Howard take the sport's top job 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.
"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."
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.
Source: Xinhua
（Editor：张茜）
Staff members watch a screen showing the blast-off of the Long March-2FT1 carrier rocket loaded with Tiangong-1 unmanned space lab module at Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Sept. 29, 2011. Commander-in-chief of China's manned space program Chang Wanquan announced Thursday night that the launch of Tiangong-1 space lab module was successful. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)
Chinese President Hu Jintao watches the launch of Tiangong-1 space lab module at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 29, 2011. Other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, including Wu Bangguo, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang and Zhou Yongkang, are also present. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)
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Image taken from Beijing Aerospace Control Center shows a Long March-2FT1 carrier rocket loaded with Tiangong-1 unmanned space lab module blasting off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 29, 2011. (Xinhua) 
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http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/90867/7088310.pdf