LORD Marland began his election campaign to become the new chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board by criticising Giles Clarke's spell in the post and claiming there are ''systematic problems'' within the current regime.

The 52-year-old former treasurer of the Conservative Party was confirmed today as the only challenger to Clarke's bid for re-election after claiming sufficient support from the counties to force an election, which must take place in the next fortnight.

As an experienced member of Britain's political system - he helped Boris Johnson's successful campaign to become London Mayor in addition to his four-year spell as Tory treasurer - Marland wasted no time in attempting to get his campaign off to a flying start.

While Clarke hosted a forum in Leicestershire attended by former players, officials from the International Cricket Council and the counties to discuss the future of Test cricket, Marland immediately seized centre stage with an attack on the ECB's recent record.

Marland criticised the ECB's association with Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford and claimed there was a rift among the counties about Clarke's chairmanship.

He also believes the ECB, under Clarke's leadership, had missed out when they failed to come to an agreement with India, South Africa and Australia and were excluded from becoming a partner country of the Champions League.

His most stinging criticism was reserved for the ECB's handling of the dressing room disagreements which led to Peter Moores' sacking and Kevin Pietersen's resignation shortly after Christmas and the hasty appointment of Andrew Strauss as temporary captain shortly before the squad set out for an 11-week tour of the West Indies.

''There are clearly systematic problems within the ECB that has lent to the sacking effectively on the same day of both coach and captain,'' stressed Marland.

''The systematic problems go quite deep and quite wide and go quite a long way back - there has been non-stop fire-fighting in the ECB.

''They've had fire-fighting after their failure to get on with India, Australia and South Africa in the IPL, the disastrous Stanford cricket match and their failure to deliver the middle east tournament as an alternative to the IPL.

''There needs to be much more harmony in Test match cricket and in cricket in this country. There is clearly a big divide among the counties as to how it is run and things are not harmonious - my approach would be more conciliatory.''

The 18 first class counties and the MCC each receive a vote for the new chairman with the successful candidate needing 10 to have his election validated by the 41 ECB members.

Marland is already believed to have the support of Leicestershire, Surrey, Hampshire and Lancashire but may find he has a major battle persuading some of the smaller counties, who have benefited from Clarke's negotiating skills to secure a lucrative agreement with Stanford, to vote for change.

He clearly believes, though, that the best way of forcing Clarke's removal is to go on the attack and was particularly critical of England's involvement with Stanford, especially with the way the agreement was announced by him landing on Lord's Nursery ground in a helicopter last summer.

''The thing that embarrassed me most was the helicopter landing at Lord's and the vast display of dollar notes out of a box,'' said Marland.

''The display was crude and vulgar and was the start of what became an even bigger shambles with the most terrible performance by the England team out there, which worries me most.''

He added: ''The performance of the England team since the fantastic victory in 2005 with the unprecedented money coming into cricket has been dire.

''I think our teams have been badly prepared, badly run and as a simple cricket fan it's time that changes. My entry into this debate will hopefully raise the debate of where cricket should be and a real effort is made to create an England team that England fans want to follow.

''I thought Kevin Pietersen showed great leadership taking the team out to India. That was a brave thing to do and a good thing to do and I don't think he was treated very well when he returned.

''There was then a continual barrage from various camps in the press about his role and that of Moores and I think it's terribly unseemly.

''I don't believe in this airing of ones laundry in the press. Any well-run operation sorts itself behind closed doors and that is what the ECB needs to do.''