The wait is over. There is a new captain at the helm. Everybody can forget about panning Mr (Pimms) Andlemonade and move forward withthe very under the radar Holgar Osieck.

Who? That’s right. Holgar Osiek beat out a formidable list of contenders with names being thrown around like Frank Rijkaard, Paul Le Guen, Martin O’Neill and Jose Pekerman. And pundits and public alike are scrambling for the google oracle to tell them just who this German man who has the growing expectations of nation now upon him actually is.

Frank Lowry – in an exquisite case of name dropping – is citing a direct line to footballing legend Franz Beckenbauer, saying that he consulted the great man about his one-time protege before giving him the nod. Osiek is being hailed as more than a coach and there is a little of the talismanic panacea about Lowry’s words that he was looking for an educator of both players and coaches and that Osiek fit the bill.

Of course the new boss didn’t have to wait long to cast his eye over the troops though it’s doubtful that he was too pleased. In a match billed kind of like Pepsi – the choice of the new generation – the Soccernews were soundly beaten by a dominant Slovenia: sloppy, mistake-prone, wayward with the few chances they did create and  in the end lucky to shake hands only two to the bad. Yazz and the Plastic Population sung it best, The Only Way is Up!!!

The Dutch experiment is now officially over. It delivered qualification for two World Cups, left us with a deep love of Guus (in whom we still trust) though not so much he-who-came-after, Pim. Now all hope lies in German precision (and other such cultural stereotypes).

The German has a big job too: remedy the disaster that was the last Asian Cup campaign, steer generational change, and set sail for the carnival in Brasil in 2014….

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New Zealander Alan Isaac has been named ICC Vice President. The job of VP comes with an automatic ascension to the top job of el presidente in 2012. He is the appeasement put up after the World clamoured down John Howard’s nomination earlier in the year.

Howard is no great of the game, and though he was wont to describe himself as a ‘cricket tragic’ that is hardly qualification for the role. At the sharp end of proceedings in July, England was the only nation to support the ex-PM, along with Australia and New Zealand of course. In the nay camp huddled India, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa. Curiously, as it is so often Howard’s strong anti-Mugabe stance cited as the reason for putting the kybosh on his nomination, Zimbabwe abstained. The ICC provided no reason for the rejection.

I’ve read speculation it was because he was seen as a racist, citing the immigration policy he presided over when in government, and he also famously referred to test cricket’s highest ever wicket taker Murali as a chucker; not overly diplomatic. The murky power of the sub-continent is claimed to be behind it, proponents moaning over how India controls 80% of the game’s global revenue. Have money, have power, they say.

In trying to understand how the doyens in the cricket commentariat are just as confused by the less-than-transparent actions of the ICC as the rest of we punters, you could do worse than read these two pieces by poet Peter Roebuck here and here. If you can figure out which one of these is the true summation of the situation please leave a comment below. Maybe Roebuck’s contradictions make a meta-argument analysis that is more than the words he uses, that in contradicting himself he reveals how the situation is actually unknowable. Or something.

Perhaps though, the answer is less insidious and more hilarious and Howard was voted down as anyone with this kind of bowling action (click here) has no place at the head of the sports governing body. Any opportunity to watch that footage again is a blessing.

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