World cricket must hope that former Australian Prime Minister John Howard delivers leadership better than he does an off break.
Though he has never held any formal cricket-related office, Howard was nominated on Tuesday by the governing bodies of Australia and New Zealand cricket as the man to become International Cricket Council president.
He will follow India's Sharad Pawar, who replaces the incumbent Briton David Morgan in July.
Howard's nomination arrived ahead of the Kiwi candidate, longtime cricket administrator Sir John Anderson, following considerable deliberation by the two boards.
"I look forward to working in the interests of the game that I've loved all my life and is very dear to me," Howard told reporters in Sydney.
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The ICC will accept Howard's nomination at the meeting of its executive board in April, leaving him to be formally appointed vice president to Pawar in July, then president in 2012 at the conclusion of his predecessor's two-year term.
A two-year spell as vice president will give Howard the time to gain a more adequate working knowledge of the game's administration, following a life in politics where cricket, always a pleasing diversion, was never the main game.
During his 11 years as Prime Minister, Howard never seemed far from a cricket ground, once being caught on camera delivering a series of tragicomic off breaks in Pakistan.
He identified with the game more strongly than any Australian leader since Sir Robert Menzies and becoming a vocal advocate of its "relaxing" quality.
That sense of relaxation is unlikely to last long when Howard begins to deal in the political machinations of a game perpetually divided and confused along lines of culture, race and money.
As a noted lover of Test cricket, Howard's influence should be useful for the game's longest form, as the game juggles white clothing with the explosion of Twenty20 and its associated pot of gold.
"The (three forms of the game) each have a role, there's room for all of them and the responsibility of those who might administer cricket as well as those who play is to make sure the blend of the three is properly maintained," Howard told Sky News.
"It's such a large number of people who play and follow cricket ... there has to be room for all three forms of the game and for all three forms to do extremely well."
India's dominant share of revenues will require Howard to tread warily.
A forthright view about the illegality of mystery spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's action may also have to be shelved.
Shadow treasurer and former Howard government minister Joe Hockey left little doubt about his support for the decision.
"It's a wonderful recognition that John Howard is an extremely capable person," Hockey said.
"It is also a message to the world that you're not finished in your late 60s, you actually can make a significant contribution to the world and to a great sport."
