He was due to stay in the role until 2019 but leaves in the wake of the review into Australian cricket.

It described CA as "arrogant and controlling" and partly to blame for the incident in a Test match in March.

Chairman David Peever and board member and former captain Mark Taylor have both resigned since the review.

Steve Smith, captain at the time of the ball-tampering incident, and David Warner, his vice-captain, are seven months into one-year bans for orchestrating the plan, while Cameron Bancroft, who carried out the cheating on the field in South Africa, was also banned but will be eligible to return in December.

The incident also hastened the departures of coach Darren Lehmann and Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland.

Howard, a former Australia rugby union international, had been CA's high performance manager since 2011 and was due to stay until after next year's Ashes series.

CA said former Australia women's captain Belinda Clark will take on the role in an interim basis until a replacement is appointed next year.