Lahore: Former Pakistan cricket chief Najam Sethi on Monday withdrew as sole nominee for the presidency of the game's world governing body, calling for a top former player to take his place. Sethi, who quit as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last year after a long series of court battles in a power struggle with his predecessor, had been nominated for the post of International Cricket Council (ICC) president. The ICC was due to consider Sethi's nomination in their board meeting in Barbados later this month and he would have taken charge for one year from July 1.

But Sethi said the ICC's recent announcement that the president's post will only be open to leading former players from July 2016 prompted him to take the decision. "I have withdrawn my candidature," Sethi said. "Since the ICC announcement... I have increasingly felt that it is only fitting that this rule should be implemented straightaway so that one of Pakistan's great iconic cricketers should be so honoured."