KARACHI Former CEO of the PCB Arif Ali Khan Abbasi is the first Pakistani to have openly opposed former Australian prime minister John Howards candidacy as ICC vice president. Talking to TheNation here Monday, Arif Ali Khan Abbasi, who played a crucial role in introducing 'rota system which helped all Test playing countries get a chance to have their own head of the ICC, said that he did not know what was official position of the PCB on the issue but if assessed on cricketing principles, former Australian prime ministers candidacy as vice president of the ICC was wrong because he was not a cricket administrator or holding position in the Cricket Australia but merely an outsider. These offices were for those individuals who hold positions in Test cricket boards and not for any outsiders like John Howard, he added. He said Howards thrust to the ICC reminded him of a similar situation when a former British prime minister John Major tried to get the presidency of the MCC some years ago. But as the Britons were traditionalists they would not deviate from principles and they blocked the way of John Major. They, however, accommodated him as a member of the MCC which was normal and acceptable. Thus they held high the old principles which had served the game well in the past. He said John Howard held the top political job in Australia but he had nothing to do with cricket except for the love and liking for the sport. Mere loving and taking interest should not be taken as enough qualification for someone occupying a top slot in the ICC, he added. He said Pakistan cricket had suffered immensely from these kind of people who managed to clinch the top slot of the PCB just because that they had love for the game or had liking for it. They manoeuvred their way to the top positions. These kind of persons contributed nothing but destruction to the sport from the grass root to top level. There were a number of examples in Pakistan when people with connection at the top got the coveted cricket slot. All records were broken in 1999 when under a democratic government, an individual with love and liking of cricket managed to clinch the nominations of the president of the PCB. Since then Pakistan cricket had seen nothing but a free fall. One after another individuals with liking and love of the sport sat on the cricket throne and the result was before every one to see. Pakistan cricket had never been in such a poor state. The free fall was continuing only because the ad-hocism which triggered it 11 years ago was still in place and the real owners of the sports - the cricket associations - had been sidelined and denied any role in the running of the PCB. He said that he did not want to see the ICC slumping to new lows with outsiders calling the shots. Though there was a mechanism for checks and balances in the ICC for controlling a wayward administration but it is better to avoid poor administration by denying outsiders the chance to run the cricket body than to a go for damage control. He said as far he knew through newspapers, the African block, South Africa and Zimbabwe, were against John Howard and Sri Lanka may join them because it was John Howard who as prime minister had had called Muttiah Muralitharan a chucker. Howards role in keeping Zimbabwe away from cricket for political reasons was well recorded. He hoped Sri Lanka would avoid taking political decision when the issue came up in near future. John Howard, he said, would be needing seven out of the 10 votes of the Test playing country and if Pakistan joins with the above-mentioned three countries, John Howard entry would be blocked. He advised the PCB to vote against Howard when the time came because otherwise it would sat a bad precedent that may open doors for any one entering the top slot of the ICC. Under the rota system, he said, it was the chance of Australia/New Zealand to select a candidate for the vice president who would automatically be elevated to the presidential office once the incumbent had served his two year term. Australia could have brought forward a better cricket administrator than to stuck with Howard. Australia was a great cricketing nation and, he said, he was sure there were a number of reputed cricketers around who could have earned the Australian nomination. In the current case after Sharad Pawar of India, who would take over the top ICC slot next month after his two year term as president, would give way to the vice president who would automatically become the president. If Howard was elected as vice president he would be there as ICC president in year 2012. He said that he did not know the reasons behind Indias support to the John Howard. Pawar was forcefully backing his candidature. India currently can make its weight felt in the ICC and other Test playing countries with few exception would do whatever dictated to them. But Test playing countries had to show some maturity in taking important decisions in the interest of international cricket, he added.