Howard has 'constructive' meeting with Chingoka

Zimbabwe Cricket has described as "constructive" a meeting between the organisation's powerbrokers and John Howard, who flew to Harare in an effort to ease tensions ahead of next week's ICC board meeting in Singapore. The ICC will vote on Howard's nomination as the next vice-president, a move that drew objections from Zimbabwe and South Africa.

However, Howard and the Cricket Australia chairman Jack Clarke spoke with the ZC chairman Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, the managing director, on Wednesday. In a press release from ZC, the meeting was described as "friendly, constructive and frank". "I am confident that each party leaves this meeting with a better understanding of the other," Bvute said.

According to ZC, Howard was optimistic for the future of cricket in Zimbabwe. "My personal wish is to see Zimbabwe fully re-integrated into the world cricket family and see the sport continue to grow in all parts of the world, including Zimbabwe," Howard said.

Howard was the joint nominee of the Australian and New Zealand boards and his confirmation as ICC vice-president was expected to be a formality, until South Africa and Zimbabwe moved to block his accession. During his term as prime minister of Australia, Howard was a vocal critic of Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe.