Former New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chairman John Anderson has declined an offer to be the new nominee for the vice presidency of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in place of John Howard, NZC said Saturday. Howard, the former Australian prime minister, was the initial selection of NZC and Cricket Australia (CA) for the post but his candidacy was rejected by the ICC executive board late last month for undisclosed reasons. The ICC vice president, chosen by the two countries this year under an international rotation system, will become the world governing body's president in 2012. “In the light of the ICC's rejection of the nomination of John Howard, I approached Sir John Anderson to assess his availability for the role,” NZC chairman Alan Isaac said in a statement. “Unfortunately Sir John advised me that he is not available to be considered as a possible nominee. “The NZC Board respects Sir John's position and acknowledges the outstanding contribution he has made to game of cricket. We have recommenced discussions with Cricket Australia around a proposed a way forward.” Anderson chaired NZC for 13 years from 1995 to 2008 and also represented New Zealand on the ICC board. CA and NZC have until Aug. 31 to come up with a new nominee. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has refused to reveal why Howard's name was rejected saying cricket's controlling body did not have to give a reason. But it is understood that opposition from Asian and African nations sealed his fate as he had clashed with some of the countries opposed to his ICC bid when he was Australia's premier from 1996 to 2007. McCullum wants to open Brendon McCullum wants to open the batting in cricket tests for New Zealand after deciding this year to quit his wicketkeeping role. McCullum, who will have to win his place in the team as a specialist batsman after making the decision to give up the gloves, thinks he would provide New Zealand with an aggressive opening option. He pointed to Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Tillakaratne Dislan and Matthew Hayden as examples of current Test openers who played a style similar to his own. “I wouldn't play conventionally. There's a lot of aggressive test openers around now. It's probably something we haven't really looked at,” McCullum told New Zealand media Friday. “I'm not saying it's going to work, but I'm going to give it everything I've got to try and make it work.” New Zealand has struggled for many years to find a settled and productive opening partnership and McCullum, who has averaged 34.90 in 52 Tests, is seen to offer the national selectors a new option. He is thought likely to bat at No. 3 in the order initially but might move to the top of the order if problems persist with the opening partnership. “One, two or three are probably the same. I don't mind where,” McCullum said. “It won't be the stock-standard blunt the ball at the top of the order. “I've got to stick to my strengths and if we're totally honest it probably hasn't worked in the past, the way we've been playing. Why not try something different?” McCullum realizes that his decision to give up the wicketkeeping role meant he was no longer an automatic selection. McCullum will not be the first wicketkeeper who has also been a Test opener. West Indian Clyde Walcott opened the innings in his first Test match against England in 1948. Alec Stewart did so in Tests for England, Wayne Phillips for Australia, Romesh Kaluwitharana for Sri Lanka, Andy Flower for Zimbabwe and Adam Parore, briefly, for New Zealand. Adam Gilchrist for Australia, Kumar Sangakkara for Sri Lanka and Kamran Akmal for Pakistan have done so in the limited
