Cricket: Ex-judge rules himself out, Crowe keen

Retired High Court Judge Sir John Hansen has laughed off a suggestion he should put his name forward for the International Cricket Council's vice-presidency.

"I'm just newly on the board of New Zealand Cricket and am finding my way at that level," he said yesterday.

"The ICC is another step beyond that."

Hansen, originally of Dunedin, retired two years ago after a long career in the legal profession.

He came to the cricket world's notice in January 2008 when he was the code of conduct commissioner in the Harbhajan Singh/Andrew Symonds incident.

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard was nominated for the ICC position by Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket.

But six of the 10 major member nations voted against the nomination and the ICC has given the two countries until the end of August to come up with another candidate.

Former NZC chairman Sir John Anderson, an earlier candidate for the role, has decided not to put his name forward again, while former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe has declared his interest.

Anderson was overlooked first time around after a panel of five - two each from New Zealand and Australia, plus an Australian chairman - plumped for Howard.

Six of the 10 major cricketing nations - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies and South Africa, with Zimbabwe unofficially in that camp - said Howard was unacceptable and what should have been a rubber-stamping exercise was thrown into chaos in Singapore at the start of this month.

Anderson has effectively ended any thought by officials of going back on bended knee with a "please John" request by counting himself out.

But NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said it was by no means a free licence for Cricket Australia to come up with a fresh name.

"There are a lot of people we could suggest who would be qualified for the role," Vaughan said.

"Some discussions have taken place on the issue and we'll be following them up in the coming weeks."

While NZC has discussed the issue, CA is not due to meet for several days.

It remains grumpy at not getting its way with Howard.

Vaughan said NZC was likely to keep mum on the issue until the Australians had deliberated and then the two countries would get their heads together.

Crowe said he was willing to put his hat in the ring for the ICC job.

Vaughan said he had had no discussions with Crowe, nor had he been approached by NZC.

"He's done a lot for cricket and he's a fairly opinionated individual, which is a real strength," Vaughan said, but wondered how that would square with the need for a strong diplomatic streak in the successful candidate.