London, Jan. 26 : Lord Marland, who is hoping to take charge of English cricket by ousting current chairman Giles Clarke, has described the state of game in his country as being in "shambles".

"Since 2005, cricket has gone backwards. The ECB have not invested properly. They have missed out on the finances of the Indian Premier League and a seat at the top table with India, Australia and South Africa," The Sun quoted Lord Marland, as saying.

Marland, 52, announced earlier this month that he will stand against Clarke for the post in the wake of the crisis hitting English cricket because of the Kevin Pietersen - Peter Moores stand-off.

Clarke became the head of English cricket''''s governing body in September 2007, and is keen to serve a second two-year term in office when his current spell expires on March 31 this year.

But Marland, a member of the British House of Lords, who was also the treasurer of Britain''''s main opposition Conservative party from 2003 to 2007, has thrown his hat into the ring.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there are many in the ECB establishment who believe that the Pietersen-Moores fallout is the making of Giles.

"I believe it is vital for English cricket in its current situation to have a contest for the chairmanship of the ECB. There are deep schisms within the game which need to be healed, and I believe I can be a unifying candidate. The image of our game has been very badly damaged during Giles Clarke''''s time at the helm and the Stanford and Moores/Pietersen affairs of recent months have highlighted both errors of judgement and management failures," Marland was quoted, as saying.

Once nominations for the post have been accepted, the ECB have 48 hours to call an election, which must take place within two weeks. The 18 first-class counties, plus MCC, will be balloted with 10 votes required to win the election outright. (ANI)