The Great Game Called Cricket...

Sachin Tendulkar deserves a World Cup victory under his belt but to realise this dream the batting icon needs players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni to fire in 2011 home event, says former Kiwi fast bowler Danny Morrison.

"Sachin Tendulkar, the master, deserves to have some sort of winners' medal hanging round his neck but it's not all about him. Cricket is a tough game and it's also about whether Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni can deliver for India. Can they do it for Sachin?," Morrison said at an ICC audio-cricket show.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also feels that India will be strong contenders to lift the World Cup.

"I think India has the best opportunity to lift the World Cup this time round. It has to be good for them playing on home turf. It adds pressure but that's part of hosting.

"You feel that India want something special to happen and this year I think you've got to go with the India team to emulate the 1983 side led by Kapil Dev," said Morrison, who claimed 126 ODI wickets and 160 in Tests.

India will co-host the 2011 edition along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-March.

Ricky Pointing expects his reign as Australian captain to end if he is not holding the Ashes at the SCG in January. Ponting was in charge during the 2005 and 2009 defeats in England, and led his side to a 5-0 whitewash at home three years ago.

Despite being one of the game's all-time greats with the bat, Ponting knows his future depends on the result of the 2010-11 series. "I'd probably be looking for a new job if we lose again," Ponting told the Daily Mail. "It's as simple as that. I've got the biggest eight months of my career coming up."

Australia face Pakistan and India in two-Test series before the Ashes begin at the Gabba in November and the series is followed by the World Cup. "It doesn't get any bigger than that and everything I do between now and April will be geared at getting the most out of myself and, most importantly, the group," he said. "If I'm able to do that I think there are some pretty special things on the horizon for this team."

While the Ashes series is likely to determine what Ponting does next, he said he was not weighed down by the significance of the contest. "I haven't thought about any added pressure on me," he said. "I'm just thinking about being the best player I can be and having a significant impact on the Ashes series as a batsman and as a leader. That's all I can control. I know what it takes to be a good player in a big series and I know what it will take for the rest of the guys."

England have beaten Australia in their most important encounters over the past year. The run began with their Ashes victory at The Oval and continued with a win in the World Twenty20 final and the current one-day series success.

Ponting said England deserved the latest triumph but does not think they have earned bragging rights in all forms of the game. "We're still ranked the best side in one-day cricket and No. 2 in Test cricket," Ponting said. "Until England get their heads above us in all of the tables then superiority will be with us."

Support for John Howard's appointment to the vice-presidency of the ICC fell away "significantly" in the last week with at least a couple of the boards, which eventually opposed the move, changing their stance in that time. What brought about the change, however, is not yet clear.

Howard's appointment was rejected on Wednesday by six of the ICC's ten Full Members, thought to consist of the subcontinent boards of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as South Africa and the West Indies. Zimbabwe is said to have provided the most vocal opposition privately and led the movement and, though they didn't sign the letter that brought matters to such a head, they are believed to have played a prominent part in the decision.

At least two boards are said to have given assurances to David Morgan, the outgoing ICC president in the last week, that they would support Howard only to change their minds eventually. "There had been a significant shift downwards in the level of support - that is a shift of support away from John Howard in the last week," Morgan told Cricinfo, though he didn't identify where the support fell away, or why it did.

Ehsan Mani, the former ICC head who remains close to senior figures within the ICC, said the PCB and BCB - who had said they would seek government advice over the issue - had assured Morgan recently of their support, but backed down. "Both Bangladesh and Pakistan had assured David Morgan recently that they would support John Howard and I find it strange that they eventually opposed the move," Mani told Cricinfo. "Were their arms twisted over the course of the last week? What made them change their stance?"

None of the opposing members or the ICC has spoken publicly about the objections and under ICC rules they are not required to. Sri Lanka's concern arose from Howard being a figure from outside cricket's administrative fraternity. Others such as Zimbabwe and South Africa are believed to have based their disapproval on Howard's past political leanings, particularly with the government of the former.

The anger within the Australia and New Zealand boards, however, stems from not being given any concrete objections privately either. "There's been no clear indication of what objections there were and that is disappointing in many ways to Australia and New Zealand," said Morgan, who stepped down from his post on Thursday.

"They went through a rigorous process to choose between two excellent candidates and I am disappointed that I was unable to push that nomination through. The new president [Sharad Pawar] and I had supported the nomination [the ICC press release of the time had expressed support to the process rather than the nomination] but unfortunately I was unable to see it through," Morgan said.

The issue doesn't show signs of being resolved any time soon. CA, it is understood, will continue backing Howard, though the ICC again urged the two boards to reconsider their nomination by August 31. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, refused to be drawn into speculating what would happen if Howard's name was put up again. "I think that's speculative and we must wait for August 31 and see what comes forward," he said at a press conference in Singapore.

Morgan believes one casualty of this conflict may be the system of putting forward a candidate for the post, which has already been through a number of guises since the mid 1990s. Currently nominations are put forward by a pair of regionally-aligned countries on a rotational basis: Howard was Australia and New Zealand's choice. Pakistan and Bangladesh are next in line to put forward a nomination; one candidate will emerge from India and Sri Lanka; England and West Indies, and South Africa and Zimbabwe are the remaining regional pairings. In the past more general systems have been used, as well as variants of a regional policy.

"The rotational system was used for the first time this time," Morgan said. "There is a commitment to retain it but I have my doubts that it will stand."

There are broader concerns from yesterday's development, in particular the apparent realigning of loyalties along lines that were thought to have mattered less in the last decade, those of race. The power of the Asian bloc was said to have weakened as the BCCI and CA drew closer in recent years to benefit from a profitable and exciting rivalry.

But CA chairman Jack Clarke said yesterday that his board would be "cautious" in their dealings with the BCCI in future. "I think the lessons to be learnt for CA would be big ones after this incident," Mani said. "Australia threw all their eggs into one basket over the last few years and it's come back to bite them because they lost support from other boards while pursuing the BCCI.

"But I think it is important for cricket to do some serious soul-searching and for the administration to draw a line somewhere about how one board can effectively have so much strength to be able to run the entire game. There needs to be a counter-balance."

Former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar has taken over as ICC president from England's David Morgan following the body's annual conference in Singapore. Pawar will lead the ICC for two years after having served as Morgan's deputy for a similar period, and his appointment comes after the controversial rejection of former Australian prime minister John Howard's bid for the vice-president's job

Pawar is the second Indian to hold the ICC's top job, after Jagmohan Dalmiya's stint in the late nineties. He praised the leadership of outgoing president Morgan, terming it an 'impressive innings'. "David Morgan has set the principles by which the ICC operates and now it is our responsibility to build on his legacy," Pawar said.

One of India's most influential regional politicians, Pawar's rise to the most powerful post in cricket administration started with a fractious victory over former India captain Ajit Wadekar in the elections to the Mumbai cricket board in 2001. The next big step was the defeat of Dalmiya's candidate in the tussle for control of the BCCI in 2005 after losing by one vote in the previous year.