The vote for Clyde Walcott's successor now will be held in July next year when Walcott's term as ICC chairman will end, due to Dalmiya's failure in winning the required two-thirds majority of the Test-playing nations.

Dalmiya, widely viewed as a radical, said unless the constitution was changed the vote would end deadlocked again next year.

``We could be left with an ICC which has no chairman. It would be rudderless,'' said Dalmiya, secretary of the Indian Cricket Board.

``We went into this meeting believing that under English law the ICC constitution would have allowed for a straight majority vote to decide who would be elected chairman. That view was rejected and we respect that decision. But if I get the go-ahead from the Indian board, we will seek a legal decision on this matter,'' Dalmiya said.

Dalmiya, who did not rule out standing again in next year's fresh contest, is believed to have received the backing of only three Test nations.

He advocates revolutionary changes which would rid Test cricket of drawn matches and argues that expansion is essential for the long-term survival of the game.

Dalmiya, secretary of the Indian Cricket Board and a Calcutta-based millionaire, beat Australian Malcolm Gray by 25 votes to 13 in a second ballot held on Wednesday, July 10, during the ICC's annual meeting at Lord's.

But the ICC constitution requires that the successful candidate must secure a two-thirds majority of the votes from the nine Test-playing nations, which get two votes each.

Dalmiya only had the support of the three Test playing countries from Asia -- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This deemed the total vote indecisive, even though Dalmiya had the support of 19 of the 22 associate members, whose votes each counted for one.

The three-year term of the incumbent chairman, West Indies's Sir Clyde Walcott, ends in July next year. A proposal to solve the stalemate by extending his term was rejected, and he is now faced with organising a new election in twelve months time.

'We could not achieve a consensus and there was no clear winner in accordance with the rules,' The Times quoted Walcott as saying. 'The members then decided that a fresh election would be held during our 1997 conference.'

Earlier in the meeting, Dalmiya failed in arguing that the ICC constitution was written in such a way that a straight majority of the 40 available votes should be acceptable.

This is the first time there has been a contest for the chairmanship, and initially it was between three candidates.

But after the first ballot, South African Cricket Board president Krish Mackerdhuj withdrew, leaving England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and Zimbabwe to thwart Dalmiya's bid by supporting Gray, a former chairman of the Australian Cricket Board.