Cricket Australia (CA) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) today announced that they have jointly nominated John Howard as their candidate to serve as International Cricket Council (ICC) President from 2012.

The two Boards made the joint nomination to the ICC Board earlier today.

The ICC Presidency rotates, with David Morgan currently in the chair, due to hand over to India's Sharad Pawar for a two-year term to start in mid-2010.

Under the ICC rotation, an Australasian candidate fills the role for a two-year term from 2012.

In a statement today, CA and NZC chairmen Jack Clarke and Alan Isaac said CA and NZC had agreed on a process to decide a candidate earlier this year, which involved representatives from both Boards forming a joint Nominations Committees as well as respected business leader Sir Rod Eddington who acted as an independent member.

"We are pleased that an eminent candidate in John Howard has agreed, after an exhaustive process, to take the role of joint Australia-New Zealand nominee for the ICC Presidency. It was an extremely difficult decision and ultimately relied on the input of Sir Rod Eddington, whom both cricket Boards respect enormously," they said.

"The ICC faces significant and complex internal and external challenges in its quest for cricket to become a genuinely global sport. Australia and New Zealand considered a number of distinguished candidates of global stature before deciding to invite John Howard to consider the role".

John Howard said that he was honoured and humbled to receive the joint Australia-New Zealand invitation but, noting that the nomination will not be official until June, believed it inappropriate to comment until that time.