South African Imtiaz Patel has withdrawn his candidature for the high-profile job of the the International Cricket Council's Chief Executive Officer, the game's world governing body announced on Monday.

Exactly a fortnight after he was named to succeed Malcolm Speed [Images], Patel said he carefully considered the ICC [Images] offer but preferred to continue with his present employers.

But the ICC made it clear that Patel's withdrawal did not mean that they would settle for an "inferior" candidate and instead reconvene the recruitment committee.

Former BCCI President I S Bindra was the only other candidate in the fray for the post, but the ICC has already appointed him on a new role of its Principal Advisor.

ICC President-Elect David Morgan of England [Images] said they were disappointed but "committed to securing services of right candidate" in near future.

"We are obviously disappointed that Imtiaz has chosen to withdraw his interest, having regarded him highly. However, the fact that Imtiaz has withdrawn does not mean that, by default, we will be left with a candidate who is, in any way, inferior to him," he said in a statement today.

The next CEO will take over from Speed, who is set step down from the post after this year's ICC Annual Conference, slated between June 29 and July 4. Speed has held the position since July 2001, when he took over from the ICC's first CEO, David Richards.