Vaughan and Flint. That the hot news in English cricket, it seems. Vaughan said that Fredalo wrecked English World Cup plans by his drinking.

"We arrived at the World Cup in a positive frame of mind," Vaughan told The Guardian. "But unfortunately incidents happened which affected the team. You have to be honest, the 'Fredalo' incident did affect the team. It did affect morale. Suddenly you've got players who have no freedom left. I like to see players enjoy themselves but no one would dare go out after that incident - and you can't create any spirit then."

"I never used the word 'Fredalo'," said Vaughan. "As soon as you mention that, you are pinpointing one person. I'll be having dinner with him in an hour's time. It [the article] has been blown out of all proportion. One word changed the whole context of the article, a word which I didn't say."

"I think it is completely out of order, I think it's despicable, I think it stinks against a guy (Flintoff) who has given blood for England these past three or four years," Cumbes said. "He was the talisman in the Ashes series in 2005...this fella has given blood for England and I think it is appalling he's been treated in this fashion."

Michael Vaughan's claim that he did not use the word "Fredalo" in describing the reasons England under-performed at the World Cup has been contradicted by the newspaper that originally ran the story. The Guardian has posted online an audio excerpt from its interview with Vaughan, proving he did use the term.

The Jamaican police have said they are analysing new information about the death of Bob Woolmer though they refused to comment on reports in the media that Woolmer had died of natural causes.

"Ravi is perfect to coach the team. He is an experienced man and understands the cricketers of the sub continent well," Sidhu said despite the former all rounder having made clear that he would not continue with the job.

In fact, Whatmore’s chances had begun to dim after BCCI president Sharad Pawar met the Indian players in Chittagong during the recent Bangladesh series. “It was understood that the players would definitely have a say and that is what has happened as far as inviting Ford is concerned,” said the panel member, who did not wish to be named.

It was then that some senior players requested recent interim manager Ravi Shastri to contact Ford, the former South Africa coach. Apparently, Ford’s profile of being mild-mannered generally, but a hard taskmaster when it came to fitness, had impressed the Indians.

"As far as his cricketing technique is concerned, I cannot comment on that. But I will love to work with Sehwag (on his state of mind). I think he should relive the memories of his best performances," Agashe told PTI in an exclusive interview.

"When the negative images are disproportionately larger in your mind it puts you into a stressful state and the threat of failure becomes bigger.

While Ruchir maintains the daily updates, am working on migrating him, and other colleagues on this blog, to the new site. Will take a week, tops. In the meantime, Ruchir, Manish and others will be found here; I meanwhile have as of today begun posting, on cricket and all else, here.

There is news that Graham Ford is also a strong contender for the coach's job.

The players then tapped into their own network - players from other countries, some old contacts from their time in county cricket in England - and the name of Ford figured prominently. South African cricketers including Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener and former cricketer Jonty Rhodes had plenty of positive things to say about Ford.

A senior board functionary who does not work out of the Mumbai offices of the BCCI - to where the letter of interest was sent - denied any knowledge of Ford's interest, asking only, "Who is Ford? We have not had any communication with Ford."

However, Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, later confirmed that they had indeed received an application from Ford.

However, while it is tough to predict exactly whom Gavaskar will nominate for the job, no one should be surprised if he goes with a left-field suggestion, perhaps someone like Sri Lanka's Arjuna Ranatunga.

However, Gavaskar, 58, denied any such disapproval and said that his decision with regard to India's next coach would be in keeping with the team's interests. "If I was anti-foreigner, how did Greg Chappell become coach? It was a unanimous decision (in 2005)," he told Mid-Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid.

BCCI has found a buyer for the useless Afro-Asian Cup. ESPN-Star has agreed to telecast this series. To refresh the memory, Nimbus has pulled out of telecasting it because most big stars were missing.

While ESPN-Star weren't willing to reveal financial details, it is understood the deal will be significantly lower than the original sum.

Nimbus Sports, which bought the rights for three editions of the tournament, first played in 2005 in South Africa, for $12 million, cited the absence of several big stars in the Asian XI as the reason for pulling the plug.

It was Zee’s failure to make money off the Kuala Lumpur tri-series last year, and the BCCI’s insistence that it share feed with Doordarshan, that finally did it for the deal.

According to sources, Zee lost Rs 50 crore on the Australia-India-West Indies tri-series in Kuala Lumpur last year. “The deal was envisaged as an annual Sharjah-like event that would have a place in the international calendar,” a Zee source told HT.

Broadcasters the world over are upset with the I&B Ministry’s Sports Broadcasting Bill that makes it mandatory to share feed of all India games with Doordarshan, not just the games in India but also those abroad.

However, unofficially the reason is the lukewarm response of the BCCI to the new cricket league promoted by Zee group.

A top Zee official confirmed this to MiD DAY yesterday. “ICL is the main reason for the pull-out.

The ICL is driving the BCCI to its grave,” said the official.

Flint-man will have another operation on his ankle, and will not take any part in the ongoing series with WI.

"Andrew Flintoff has undergone rigorous fitness testing over the past two days, most recently 30 minutes of net bowling on Tuesday, but has reacted to the testing with further discomfort in his left ankle," said the ECB's chief medical officer, Dr Nick Peirce.

"We have decided to scrap the deal," Ashish Kaul, senior vice-president of Zee Group, told Press Trust of India. Zee and the BCCI signed a five-year deal worth around US$219 million last year, the terms of which obliged India to play up to 25 "home" ODIs outside the country. The deal was believed to have been scrapped after a meeting yesterday - it is not clear at which side's instigation - and the BCCI are now in discussions with another broadcaster. The Irish board told Cricinfo that a statement will be released soon.

The committee has been asked to consider whether, in future, action should be taken against the captain and person responsible for ball tampering or just the person responsible and whether it is necessary to legislate to make it compulsory for umpires to first warn a captain before taking action.

The regulations that allow on-field umpires to consult the TV officials on the subject of clean catches are also likely to come up in the meeting.

Zaheer has played 43 days of cricket this season and as per India’s schedule has roughly 70 more days before the end of the year. Isn’t that a lot of work for a fast bowler?

The game is to be held in Bangalore on June 5, while the camp is from June 4-9 in Mysore. So, Sreesanth is set to miss two or three days of the camp to bowl a maximum of four overs in the match.

“I would definitely love to coach India if I am offered the job. I have done it in the past and would love to have another go at it,” Madan Lal said here today.

Madan Lal insisted that he would not approach the board with his candidature. “I am not going to approach the board. In fact, I don’t have any idea how to go about it. So if they come with the offer, I would definitely extend my service,” said the former cricketer, part of “Kapil’s Devils” who won the 1983 World Cup

“He has worked with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and had some success with both the sides. But coaching India would be a different ball game altogether. You have to deal with a different system here. Handling star players and living up to the expectations of India’s highly emotional fans would be a daunting task,” he explained.

I don't get it -- these guys are playing cricket every day, aren't they? Why then would they need practice before playing more cricket? Humph! These players and their newfangled notions -- I really have no patience with this s***.

'I', here, would be the BCCI, and its response to a request from the players that they would like some time for practice ahead of their Test tour of Australia.

How do you explain to a Niranjan Shah, or a Sharad Pawar that playing ODIs at home against Pakistan doesn't exactly prepare you for Tests against the number one side in the world? That even players who play cricket every day need practice time -- to work on faults that have crept into their game, to fine tune their play, to try new things, to learn, to improve?

Until someone finds a way to make money out of practice, I am afraid the BCCI response will always be the same: sorry, no time.

Since its 'that time' of the year/two-year phase....when we hunt for a coach...and obviously tv channels would have a field day making news for us throughout the hour..

I did say I was taking a bit of a breather from the cricket (which will continue till Monday), but this one seemed too good to pass by.

The algorithm developed by Narayanan and Maini — published in the May edition of the actuarial journal The Actuary — tries to correct this. “The challenge was to somehow incorporate the ‘not out’ innings into the batting average while accounting for the fact that the batsman could have scored more had the innings continued,” Narayanan said over the phone from Singapore, where he works with actuarial multinational Watson Wyatt.

The new method includes the unbeaten innings in the denominator. But to be fair to the batsman, it gives it a fraction value.

This is done by comparing the average number of balls (ANOB) the batsman faced in an innings over his career with the number of balls he faced (NOB) in an unbeaten innings. Divide NOB by ANOB to get the “weightage” of the innings.

“If a batsman faces an average of 50 balls an innings, and faced 25 while remaining not out, this (unbeaten) innings would be considered half an innings (weightage 0.5),” explained Maini, vice-president of Max New York Life India.

If NOB equals or is more than ANOB, the weightage given is 1. The runs are now divided by the number of innings, which include the sum of the weightages for all the unbeaten innings.

You want more? Here is a link to the full article, from the current issue of The Actuary.

Your turn -- what do you make of it all? Will come back here Monday, to check.

Oh, brilliant. I did say I was going to be away from this blog till the middle of next week, but stumbled on this column by Harsha Bhogle, that I just had to throw up here for information and debate.

I am not surprised at all that there are few takers for India’s unnecessary venture to Ireland. If anything, it gladdens me because it suggests, as the financial analysts like to say, that there is a full blown correction on in the cricket equity stakes. Sponsors are asking for quality, they are unwilling to back lame horses, and that is a sign of health, not despair.

Since sponsors speak the language of money, and since that is the language that Indian cricket is most conversant with, they have a vital role to play in regulating Indian cricket. When they rush in, as part of a herd, they inflate prices and anything that is illogical and hasty is unhealthy. There is no doubt that the over-supply of money has fattened Indian cricket, and I’m not only talking of those that play the game but more of those that manage it, and has diverted it from its principal objective of producing winning teams.

It isn’t that the arrival of money is bad in itself but it tends to lull people into thinking that all is well. Indian cricket needs to be marketed too, its image needs to be looked after too especially at a time like this, when fans are feeling let down and the marginal followers have deserted it. This was the time to sneak below the radar and do some serious planning, take some hard decisions. Instead we are playing irrelevant cricket.

It could well be the best thing to happen to Indian cricket in recent times -- sponsors picking and chosing what they will back. Too often in the past, the BCCI has shoe-horned matches and no-account series into little gaps in the Indian cricket calendar, regardless of the damage such money-making exercises do. And they have done this because each series, no matter how stupidly planned and organized, has fetched them an extra few million by way of revenue.

For instance, ask yourself why, with the start of the England tour just a week away from that date, India would want to play South Africa in Ireland? More so as India and South Africa are slated to meet often enough over the next twelve months?

By turning an emphatic thumbs down on the series, the sponsors are sending out a message -- one that, hopefully, the BCCI will heed.

Very interesting lineup for the first Test in Bangladesh, I notice: Five bowlers with a three-pace two-spin breakup; no Yuvraj Singh or VVS Laxman (which means the team management, in picking Karthick and Dhoni over the two seniors, decided to go with current form over labels, glory be).

Watching the match, off and on, but not covering it either on Rediff or on here; working, for now, on the project I told you guys about.

Thus far, the domain is up, the blog software I want to use has been installed and is running, and while I haven't begun fiddling around with the look and feel, links, membership and such, I have over the last couple of days, as time permits, been seeding it with the sort of posting that I hope to do much more off when the whole thing is up and running.

This first look at what I am up to is primarily to ask for feedback, thoughts, suggestions, whatever. Do note -- this is a tenth of the finished product; hopefully, by the time it is fully up and running, it will incorporate blogs by various people, on their particular interests.

For now, while working on the back end of this thing, am lining up volunteers: If there is something you follow passionately -- news, either as a whole or some section thereof; current events; movies, sports - again, overall or any particular sport you are passionate about; arts; writing -- heck, if there is anything of interest that you follow with a passion, and want to write about, mail me and let's talk about it -- panix at rediffmail.com or prem.panicker at gmail.com are the ones to use, so my office mail doesn't get distracted with this.

Thanks much and see you guys around; I should be back on the cricket blog here middle of next week, once work on this one gets streamlined.

There seems a big possibility that the 3rd ODI will be rained off, in the India-Bangladesh series.

Both the teams practised at the indoor nets today. The weather forecast is nasty: a level-seven warning for winds from the Bay of Bengal has been issued, level ten being considered highly dangerous. Level seven is supposed to be a forecast for high winds and rain and the warning is expected to stay for three to four days. Even if it does stop raining, the groundsmen have a task on hand to get the ground ready for play on Tuesday. It will take at least three to four hours for the sun to single-mindedly beat down for the ground to be fit for play. The groundsmen have already started to worry about the Test due to start on May 18.

South Africa are willing to step in and host a one-day series between Australia and Zimbabwe but the Australian government believes it is "highly unlikely" the games will eventuate.

The Australian government would prefer that the series was cancelled completely and Alexander Downer, Australia's foreign minister, said it would be unpalatable for Zimbabwe to play elsewhere.

Zee Sports, who are behind the newly-mooted Indian Cricket League (ICL), has denied the report circulating in media that Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Inzamam-ul-Haq, were signed up for the series.

It was announced that Kapil Dev, Tony Greig - former captains of India and England respectively - Dean Jones, the former Australian batsman, and Kiran More, the former Indian wicketkeeper, would be on the executive board of the ICL. Kapil was appointed as the chairman of the board.

It seems that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) could soon be playing a major role in deciding the itinerary and schedule of cricket tournaments in India and other countries in the Indian subcontinent.

In the presentation, it was mentioned that the series could have been avoided, as the climate of Bangladesh is generally quite warm and humid during May, with more than 60 per cent probability of occurrence of moderate to severe thunderstorm activity on most days.

This has already happened as the first one dayer on May 10 was interrupted at the very start of the match, restricting it to 47 overs a side. The second ODI on May 12 was again interrupted by rain, and this time, it was made a 49 overs a side match.

"Zaheer and Sreesanth are not in the 12. RP Singh and Robin Uthappa will play," India captain Rahul Dravid told reporters in Chittagong on Monday.

India captain Rahul Dravid also announced that Uthappa would bat at the number three position, a slot Mahendra Singh Dhoni occupied in the first two ODIs.

In the statement, the Jamaican Police dismissed the claim and said such media speculation was likely to cause more distress to the bereaved Woolmer family, besides hampering the probe.

Insisting that Woolmer had been murdered, Jamaican Police spokesman Karl Angell said, "That will remain our position until the results of the investigation are known."

In the case of Tendulkar, an audit scrutiny of assessment records revealed that aggregate deduction of Rs 8.89 crore was allowed on foreign currency remittance received by him on account of sports endorsement-- advertisements and publicity activities.

As the income was not derived from the profession of sportsman, allowance of deduction was not in order.

Let's see -- the latest sting operation "uncovered" the following:

#: Greg Chappell was at outs with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. That is new, from a coach who at the outset of his tenure suggested to members of the media that there were a few "cancers" within the squad, that needed to be surgically eradicated if the team was to function as a team?

#: Tendulkar and Ganguly were both vying for the captaincy, and their route to that ambition was to give the designated captain, Rahul Dravid, less than the fullest cooperation due to him. Simultaneously, they had created their own camps among the younger players -- who, while backing their respective candidates, were similarly at outs with Dravid.

#: Yuvraj Singh was a law unto himself.

#: Sponsors were fiddling around with team selection, in a bid to ensure that "their men" played.

#: The seniors couldn't stand Chappell, because among other things, he was too "big" a player for them to boss around.

That is a summation of the "startling" revelations -- so what exactly is new, or startling, about any of it?

Actually, there is one eye-opening aspect to the whole sting operation: the selectors, all of them, knew.

Yet, if you throw your mind back to the various stories that were flying around in the days before the team to Bangladesh was chosen, the refrain was: How can we drop the seniors? What cricketing ground is there to drop them?

Also recall the official statements being made by the BCCI: Everything was A-okay in the team, there was no dissent, no factionalism, it was all one happy family and no, sponsor pressure was not an issue, we lost in the World Cup because of the format of the tournament.

While all that pap was being fed to consumers, the BCCI knew what was going on, the selectors knew what was going on -- and clearly, there was no attempt to do anything concrete about it. Greg Chappell was offered the NCA. Dravid, who apparently had no control over the team -- seniors and juniors alike -- is still the captain. Rebels in chief Sachin and Sourav were "rested" for three ODI games, with the selectors going to great pains to point out that there was no question of their being disciplined -- they were being rested because there is a great deal of ODI cricket to play still.

In other words, dissent was okay with the board and the selectors; factionalism was okay with the board and the selectors; everything the players did -- all of which clearly undermined the team's prospects in the World Cup -- was okay with the board and the selectors; none of it is deemed worthy of salutary punishment.

So then, why precisely must the rest of us get excited about these "new revelations" that are neither new nor revelatory, since all of it is okay with those who run cricket in this country?

It had to happen sooner or later, with "stings" being in vogue in Indian media it was just a matter of time before one of them focused on cricket (Come to think of it, if memory serves me right, it all started with cricket: The first widely-known "sting" operation conducted by the media was by Aniruddha Bahal (then Tehelka) with the help of Manoj Prabhakar, focusing on match-fixing..).


Stand back and watch the muck fly. Appetizers here & here, more likely to come over time. *Sigh*

England's former assistant coach Matthew Maynard, now replaced by Andy Flower, is considering an offer from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to work at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

"I've been asked to go out to India to work with their academy, and I'm sure there will be one or two more offers coming in," Maynard told BBC Wales Sport.

From this story. Meanwhile, I wonder what the response to Kapil's request was? You really need three guesses?

Till date, various governments have said it was up to the players; the players of various teams have said it is not their business to decide whether to take a call based on politics on whether to play a decreed opponent or no. And the ICC, typical of a body whose working emblem is the ostrich, has said it doesn't have an opinion about anything at all.

That seems set to change, with the Australian government seemingly on the verge of pulling its team out of a scheduled tour of Zimbabwe, even if means ponying up a sizeable fine.

Interestingly, Cricket Australia had earlier said it cannot boycott Zimbabwe on moral grounds, at a time when Australia's government responded to this appeal by petitioning the UN to call for the indictment of Robert Mugabe for crimes of which this is merely one sampling.

Manish Varma points out that the ICC has weighed in on the squash-ball-in-glove furore with "rare commonsense".

Here is the link.

And there an end? Or will the reply elicit a response that will call for a clarification that makes everything as clear as mud?

In passing, I wonder if our favorite horizontal bat exponent, Virender Sehwag, might like a squash ball? Since the technique is clearly okay with the authorities -- and since it clearly works for the one player who has tried it out -- why not give it a shot?

India will play South Africa in Ireland on June 26, 29 and July 1. On July 7, India will play Sussex in the first of two warm-up games ahead of the first in a three-Test series against England.

Not wondering why we need to squeeze in three games against South Africa who we will play in June in the Afro-Asian Cup, then again in February-March in a triangular series in Bangladesh (Oh, by the way, we are touring Bangladesh again in February-March of next year, so we have another chance to "prove a point"); then we play South Africa at home in March, then we go to South Africa in April, then we again play South Africa in June in another edition of the Afro-Asian Cup...

Not suggesting this is insane scheduling.

Not criticizing either the BCCI or the ICC.

Just saying.

BCCI is making some changes in the Players Contract, regarding remuniration.

The BCCI's latest proposal stipulates a base match fee of Rs. 1.5 lakh [US$ 3700 approx] per ODI and Rs. 2.5 lakh per Test, up from the Rs 1 lakh [US$ 2500 approx] and Rs 2 lakh, respectively, announced after the last working committee meeting and almost the same as under the previous contracts. Moreover, it has not reduced the win and draw bonuses put forward in the new performance-related payment scheme.

Another significant difference is that the BCCI has widened its net of contracted players, currently offering to sign up 22 players with a possibility of others being offered contracts in the future.

Shah also felt that if the players have some reservations then it would not be possible for them to sign the contracts before they leave for Dhaka.

"They can sign the contracts after returning from the tour of Bangladesh (May 7-29)," he said.

Team India members did not get their payment since the Champions Trophy in October last year. Since then, the cricketers toured South Africa, played home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka before flying to the West Indies for the World Cup without being paid.

BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla sought to play it down and said arrears would be cleared once the contracts are signed by the cricketers.

"There was some indirect contact from India," Buchanan said in the Sydney Morning Herald. "But at the moment I am looking for new challenges as a mentor coach, and speaking to Cricket Australia and the Australian Sports Commission about that, as well as a move into corporate coaching."

"I don't know anything about any such approach having been made. This is the first time I am hearing about it," Shah said.

Members of Team India, who are at the conditioning camp for the Bangladesh tour, are putting up with extreme conditions in Kolkata. Some trainees like Ranadeb Bose and Munaf Patel fainted or vomited due to the heat.

His predecessor Andrew Leipus predicts tough times. “It’s all about matching the levels of hydration and dehydration,” said Leipus, whose last tour with the Indian team was in Bangladesh in 2004.

This can be avoided by making the warm-up as efficient as possible. “Just do what you have to do to tune up and get inside,” is Leipus’s advice.

The incident occurred when the Indian cricketers were practising running between the wickets and VRV Singh was fielding.

As the ball struck him, Swain, who was working on the centre wicket, fell and was seen writhing in pain.

BCCI and players are about to begin negotiations for the Players Contracts.

The players will first meet among themselves to discuss some of the broad concerns they have. Once they have had a chance to do that they will seek a meeting with the BCCI to put forth their reservations. After this is done, the negotiating between the players and the board will begin, as neither side can afford an ugly stand-off. Even after this is done, and both sides agree on the broad terms of the contract, a fresh draft will have to be prepared. Once this is done the players will have to take the contract back to their respective agents and lawyers who will go through the fine print. After this is done, the actual signing can take place.

Firstly, the BCCI's plan to pay the players a flat fee of Rs. 1 lakh (approx US$ 2427) for each match will be a serious bone of contention. With domestic cricketers getting paid Rs. 65,000 per game (approx US$1578), it is felt that the gap between this and what the board proposes to pay the national team per game, is too low.

In the new system that is being proposed by the board this has been further diluted with the BCCI saying that the players' pay would in no way be linked to the top-line of the board. The BCCI contended that they were willing to pay even more than 26%, should the players win more matches.

He said that he would request the Indian board to allow Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan to train with the Under-17 players at the academy. "These cricketers - some of them are going later to Bangladesh and some of them are not going at all - I am sure they have some time to spare for these youngsters at the NCA," he said during the induction ceremony for a fresh batch of Under-17 trainees.

On April 22, the WICB and WIPA, the players association, failed to agree on the status of the forthcoming tour to England and referred the matter to arbitration.

WIPA believes that the board constantly refused to discuss the matter until the last minute in a deliberate attempt to force players to sign contracts pending the ruling of the arbitrator. This would seem to be supported by evidence that Ken Gordon, the WICB's president, refused to agree to meetings, or even to discuss the matter, for six weeks after board officials had repeatedly indicated that they agreed with WIPA's assessment of the situation.

Every tour since a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two parties last year has gone to arbitration, and in every instance, the players have won.

The cultural presentation, which lasted about 45 minutes, was seen by television audiences for fewer than 15 minutes. Additionally, because of the late start, the extravaganza was viewed by fans at Kensington Oval in relative darkness.

The International Cricket Council has drawn flak from former cricketers Darren Lehmann of Australia and England all rounder Derek Pringle for considering umpires' nationality over their "excellence" in big games like World Cup final.

The duo believe the ICC must move beyond parochialism and mistrust that forced the introduction of "neutral" umpires, who were responsible for the farcical finish to last week's World Cup final.