Zimbabwe closer to Howard consensus

Melbourne, June 17 (ANI): Though there is no guarantee that Zimbabwe Cricket will vote for former Australian Prime Minister John Howard's vice-presidential candidacy in the International Cricket Council (ICC), the country's Sports Minister, David Coltart, hopes common sense will prevail.

Coltart was in Melbourne and Canberra this week to meet with Cricket Australia and the federal government, discussing plans to resume an exchange of cricket tours with Australia while also outlining his nation's wider progress to Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith.

Howard's ascendancy to the ICC vice presidency and ultimately presidency had been openly questioned by several member nations, but Coltart said he was hopeful his nation's cricket board would support the process by which the former prime minister had been selected.

Zimbabwe will be represented by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF aligned Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, and Coltart cannot guarantee the direction of their vote.

"I won't be attending because I'm Minister of Sport, and it's a cricket matter," Coltart told AAP.

He added: "In terms of Zimbabwe's laws I do not have the power to give direction to Zimbabwe cricket.

"I will not be in Singapore, but I will meet the Zimbabwe cricket board when I get back next week and convey to them what's been discussed, and I hope that sense will prevail," he said. (ANI)