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The Chennai police have registered a case against Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman, and six others on allegations of criminal conspiracy and cheating

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2010The Chennai police have registered a case against Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman, and six others on allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating and falsification of accounts, according to a report in the . The case is based on a complaint filed by the BCCI on Wednesday.Four of the six others named in the case are from the World Sport Group: its chairman Seamus O’Brian, its chief operating officer, Andrew Georgio, and the president and vice-president of its South Asia operations, Venu Nair and Haris Krishnamachari. The other two are Ajay Varma, representative of software and security firm Visual Impact and Kunal Dasgupta, the former head of Multi-Screen Media, the broadcast rights holder for the IPL.The case has been registered under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 477 A (falsification of accounts) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.This is the first step of a police investigation under Indian law; the allegations will now be probed by police and legal experts, who will press charges if they find evidence and eventually take the case to court.The move to file charges is a continuation of the decisions taken at a special general meeting of the board in June this year. “It has taken the BCCI a while to press the criminal charges because we were getting legal opinions and all the paperwork ready,” A BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. “The case grew in recent months when we came across the contract around the virtual security van”.The allegations revolve around three issues – the facilitation fee payment to WSG for the India media rights to the IPL, the sale of mid-over ads and the hiring of security vans for the tournament. The board has argued that the fee paid to WSG was an “improper payment” and the matter is currently under arbitration in Singapore.A WSG spokesperson said they had not seen the complaint and therefore had no comment.The rights to sell mid-over ads was given to Pioneer Diagsys, an ad-sales agency run by Dasgupta, without a contract and the BCCI claim that since Modi did not issue a tender for the contract, he has cost the board moneyThe board also claimed that Visual Impact, the company Modi contracted to provide security vans does not exist, and that the money paid to them was misappropriated.

The buyers of the Kochi franchise have said that, despite what seems to be an “exorbitant” price paid to buy the IPL team, in reality the figure was far lesser when spread over the ten-year contract period

Cricinfo staff28-Mar-2010

Kochi’s five investors

• Anchor Earth, part of the Anchor Group, a diversified FMCG company, represented by Atul Shah and Mehul Shah

• Film Waves, promoted by Harshad Mehta of Rosy Blue Group, a global diamond merchant, who lives in Dubai. Representatives: Keshav T and Kailash Singhal

• Parinee Developers, a Mumbai-based firm, led by Vipul Shah and Bhavya Patel

• Vivek Venugopal, part of Elite and Cholayil group, a successful FMCG group based out of Thrissur, the only Kerala-based investor

• Saket Mehta of Anand Shyam Real Estate, part of the Sur Gems group. He is a 40-year-old into diamond business

• Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited is a part of the consortium, though it has existed for 15 years

The buyers of the Kochi franchise have said that, despite what seems to be an “exorbitant” price paid to buy the IPL team, in reality the figure was far lesser when spread over the ten-year contract period. Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited, a consortium of five companies, bid US$333.33 for Kochi and was awarded the franchise on March 21.”I know it seems we have paid an exorbitant price to buy the team but, if you look at the discounted value of what we are paying over the next ten years, it is not as high as it seems,” Keshav T, one of the investors in Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited, said.Going by the annual expenditure of the eight existing franchises, Kochi will have to shell out at least $33 million (10% of winning bid) annually. Keshav, representing Film Waves, one of five investors that form Rendezvous, said the valuations worked out internally suggested their investment would be secure. “The cost that we pay is based on the business plan, which we feel is viable,” he said at a media conference arranged to discuss plans and reveal various members on the board.It seemed like an entire cricket team was on stage as 12 people, representing various business groups, took their seats, making it difficult to understand who exactly held the controls of the Kochi ship. Shailendra Gaikwad, who runs the Rendezvous group, will be Kochi’s chief operating officer and its public face. The engine room will comprise the five investors (see sidebar) based in different parts of the world, from Kerala to Dubai, with the operational base in Mumbai.Keshav said, though was no long-term relationship of any kind between the partners, some, like him, had been doing business with Anchor Group for two decades. They had worked on the plan for the last six months before deciding to make the move. The seriousness of their intentions can be gauged from the fact that no one backed out of the deal despite the original tender process being cancelled and rescheduled from March 7 to 21. Back then the face of the bid was Jaypee Group, but two weeks later Jaypee decided to opt out, forcing the other partners to hurriedly re-organise things.Doubts were raised about how the two new entrants – Rendezvous and Sahara Group (owners of the Pune franchise for $370m) – expected to recover their investment after paying a sum exceeding the combined value of the eight existing franchises. It remains unclear how many franchises have broken even yet but Keshav said Kochi would not be hindered by such fears because their goals were long-term. “We are there for the long haul and we don’t expect to make profits in the first year. We have the capacity based on the business plan to sustain.”A more immediate worry would be the absence of big names in the auction pool for the fourth IPL, considering the original group of eight teams will have the advantage of retaining few of their best players – both domestic and foreign. Keshav admitted it was unfavourable but said they had to play by the rules. “The fact that teams will be allowed to retain some of their best players will reduce the availability for us,” he said. “But we don’t see that as a major issue. So we don’t expect the best players to play for us in the first year but we definitely will try to hire the best.”When asked if it wasn’t harsh on the two new franchises to miss out on buying the best players, especially when they had spent so much to buy a team, Keshav put a positive spin on it. “Not having the best players cannot be taken for granted at this point in time. There will definitely be opportunities for us to pick players. Already you have seen there are a lot of players who have come up, who have performed very well. So it is not necessary we need established or best players, we will try to get best composition.”Vivek Venugopal, representing the Elite and Cholayil group from Thrichur, the only Kerala-based investor, said the IPL had not “defined” any catchment areas. “There aren’t any specific or defined catchment areas. The players who will not be retained by the eight original franchises will be up for the auction.”

Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s captain, Bangladesh’s captain, is aiming to hold India to a draw in the upcoming first Test starting January 17 in Chittagong

Cricinfo staff15-Jan-2010Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s captain, is aiming to hold India to a draw in the upcoming first Test starting January 17 in Chittagong. Bangladesh have not played a Test since July and have been fed a steady diet of one-day matches since, but Shakib did not believe the team would be rusty ahead of what will be their toughest series since January of last year.”I think the battle between India and Bangladesh this time will be an interesting one because the opponents have a long batting line-up while we have a few quality bowlers. However, we don’t bother much about the result of the match,” he told reporters during a training session in Chittagong. “But a draw will be good for us. I am confident that we will have a good chance if we can score 700 runs in the two innings.”Bangladesh’s last Test assignment, against a severely depleted West Indies, saw them win their first overseas series. That contest was highlighted by good bowling, especially from the spinners. Since that series, Bangladesh have played only limited-overs cricket, which included a series win over Zimbabwe at home and a winless streak in the recent tri-series featuring India and Sri Lanka.”It is true we didn’t play a Test match for quite sometime, but hopefully that won’t pose any major problem for us to adapt to the Test mould,” said Shakib. “We batted well in the last ODIs of the tri-nation series and want to show improvement in our game in the field, not through words.”

Division One leaders need less than two session to take the nine wickets they needed

ECB Reporters Network25-Aug-2024Title favourites Surrey took less than two sessions on day four to bowl out Lancashire for 177 at the Kia Oval to complete an impressive innings-and-63-run victory.Conor McKerr polished off Lancashire’s tail to finish with 4 for 27 while Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark picked up three wickets apiece as long-time Division One leaders Surrey, champions in 2022 and 2023, made it seven wins from ten Vitality County Championship matches this season. It is another big step for Surrey towards a third title in a row.Matty Hurst, Lancashire’s highly rated 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, tried hard to hold up Surrey by adding a fine 64 to a first-innings 46 in what is only his 12th first-class appearance but there was never any real doubt about the eventual result as wickets fell regularlyLancashire resumed still 214 runs adrift on 26 for 1 from 11.1 overs, after a rain-hit third day had seemingly given them a chance of escaping with a draw, but lost their last nine wickets for 151 runs as Surrey’s five-man pace attack proved too hot for them to handle for the second time in the game.Worrall, the Championship’s leading wicket-taker with 40 at an average of only 15.55 runs apiece, made the initial breakthroughs by dismissing Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings for 13 and 16-year-old debutant Rocky Flintoff in successive balls in the fifth full over of the morning.First, coming from around the wicket to left-hander Jennings, he swung one back into the former England Test opener who offered no shot and saw the ball thud into the top of his off stump. And another fine piece of bowling by Worrall immediately inflicted a first ball duck on young Flintoff, the son of former England captain Andrew who had batted so promisingly for 32 on day one as Lancashire’s youngest first-class cricketer.Pushing forward to an outswinger that also bounced perhaps more than he expected, Flintoff edged to keeper Ben Foakes who took an excellent diving catch in front of first slip.That left Lancashire 33 for 3 and they soon declined further to 82 for 5 as Josh Bohannon chopped a short, rising ball from Clark into his stumps to go for 29 and George Balderson edged a returning Worrall to second slip on four.Hurst, however, was then joined by Venkatesh Iyer in a sixth-wicket stand of 36 that at least took Lancashire through to lunch, with Iyer even having the temerity to flip Worrall over the short leg-side boundary for six. Yet it took only two balls after the interval for Surrey to break the stand, with Iyer nibbling at Clark outside off stump and thin-edging through to Foakes.Tom Hartley also offered some lower resistance, battling through a testing spell from Sam Curran in which he was beaten several times before hitting Will Jacks’ off spin over long-on for six.Hurst, though, was disgusted with himself for clipping the first ball of McKerr’s second spell – an innocuous loosener – straight into Ryan Patel’s hands at midwicket after a defiant 116-ball stay featuring seven fours. And the end was nigh when McKerr took two more wickets in his eighth over, Tom Aspinwall lofting a full toss straight to mid off and Josh Boyden losing his off stump to depart for a second-ball duck.Hartley was last man out, for 22, fending McKerr to Patel at short leg just after 3pm. Worrall finished with 3 for 34 while Clark took his own season’s Championship wicket tally to 32 with his 3 for 43.

Former South Africa captain hopes to finish his Test career in Cape Town, his “favourite stadium in the world”

Firdose Moonda22-Dec-2023Dean Elgar, South Africa’s former Test captain and stalwart opening batter, will play his last international series against India this summer. Elgar, 36, announced his decision to retire from international cricket after the New Year’s match, which is scheduled to start on January 3 in Cape Town.If in the playing XI for both Tests against India, Elgar will finish on 86 Tests in a career that has spanned 12 years. “Playing the game of cricket has always been a dream of mine but having the opportunity to represent your country is the ultimate! Having had the privilege to do it for 12 years internationally is simply beyond my wildest dreams,” he said in a statement. “It has been an incredible journey that I have been fortunate enough to have.”The Cape Town Test will be my last. My favourite stadium in the world. A place I scored my first Test run against New Zealand and hopefully my last too.”With 5146 runs, Elgar is South Africa’s eighth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket – only eight have gone past 5000 runs – and 352 runs behind Mark Boucher, who is seventh on the list.ESPNcricinfo understands that Elgar was informed that he was not part of red-ball coach Shukri Conrad’s long-term plans. He has been linked with Essex as an overseas player for the 2024 season.Elgar’s decision means he will be unavailable for South Africa’s two-Test series in New Zealand, where they will be forced to send a makeshift side because several frontline players will be involved in the SA20 league. Elgar does not have an SA20 deal and would have been the most experienced player in the squad, and potentially even asked to captain in Temba Bavuma’s absence. Instead, Titans’ batter Neil Brand is expected to lead South Africa and partner Tony de Zorzi at the top of the order. Brand and de Zorzi opened the batting together for South Africa A against West Indies A in a recent three-match series.Asked ten days ago whether Elgar was considering ending his international career, CSA director of cricket Enoch Nkwe told ESPNcricinfo that “nothing has come to my table”, but would be meeting with players and their agents “over the next couple of weeks”. Nkwe has held several discussions in the interim and paid tribute to Elgar’s contributions over the years.”Dean Elgar represents a rare brand of cricketer in an age where everything is about innovation and power-hitting. He is a real old-school cricketer that can dig in, absorb and fight. I have no doubt the game will dearly miss him,” Nkwe said. “He has always given everything for his country and never showed any fear, no matter the opposition. He was always there to take on the challenge, leading as captain when the country needed him most.”Dean Elgar led South Africa in 17 Tests, winning nine of them•AFP/Getty Images

Elgar made his debut in Perth on South Africa’s tour of Australia in 2012, when they were ranked No. 1 in the world, and became the 38th player to record a pair on debut – a list that stands at 45 now – but scored a century in his third match and went on to record 13 hundreds, against all Test opposition other than Pakistan and Zimbabwe. His favourite opponents were Sri Lanka, against whom he scored a match-winning hundred in Galle in 2014, followed by two more centuries in 2017 and 2021.Elgar stood in as captain for Faf du Plessis, who was on paternity leave, for the first Test of South Africa’s 2017 tour of England and again for two Tests against Pakistan in 2019, and was named permanent captain of the Test side in mid-2021. He led South Africa to series wins in the West Indies and against India at home, and drew a series against New Zealand in early 2022, which saw them top the World Test Championship (WTC) table at the time. But away losses to England and Australia in 2022-23 meant South Africa missed out on the WTC final earlier this year. Elgar was replaced as captain when there was a reshuffle of the coaching staff in February but continued to play under Bavuma.It is understood that Elgar was unhappy with the decision to be stood down but accepted a new central contract at the end of March. With South Africa only due to play two Test series in the 2023-2025 WTC cycle, Elgar felt his Test career would be limited by the schedule and sources have confirmed he wanted to finish on a high at home.

The BCCI ethics officer has given her until September 2 to respond

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2022Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani has been asked by the BCCI ethics officer Vineet Saran to respond to a conflict-of-interest complaint filed against her.The complaint was made by former Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) member Sanjeev Gupta, who raised the issue that Ambani, the owner of the Mumbai franchise in the IPL, is also a director at Reliance Industries (RIL), whose subsidiary Viacom 18 bought broadcast rights for the IPL from 2023 to 2027 for a sum of INR 23,758 crore (US$ 3 billion approx).Viacom 18 secured the digital rights to stream the IPL in India, and also the media rights (both TV and digital) for Australia and New Zealand, the UK, and South Africa, at the e-auction* conducted by the BCCI in June.According to Gupta, Ambani’s positions as a team owner in the IPL and as a director in the company that owns the subsidiary that has acquired IPL broadcast rights, represents a conflict of interest.”It is submitted that RIL website states that Viacom 18 is a subsidiary company of RIL,” Mr. Gupta wrote in his complaint about the alleged conflict of interest, according to PTI.Saran, a former Supreme Court judge, has given Ambani until September 2 to file a written response to the complaint.”You are hereby informed that a complaint has been received by the Ethics Officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India under rule 39(b) of the rules and regulations of BCCI, regarding certain acts, allegedly constituting ‘conflict of interest’ on your part,” Saran wrote in his notice to Ambani. “You are directed to file your written response to the accompanying complaint on or before 2-9-2022.”Gupta, the person who filed the complaint, has a history of raising conflict-of-interest issues in Indian cricket. In the past, he has filed such complaints against Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni and BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla among others.*ESPNcricinfo and Disney Star are part of the Walt Disney Company. Disney Star was also part of the e-auction and acquired the IPL TV rights for India from 2023 to 2027

Hard-hitting century proves too much in spite of Scott Steel’s doughty 64 in reply

ECB Reporters Network01-Jun-2022Northamptonshire 227 for 1 (Lynn 106*, Neesham 75*) beat Leicestershire 185 for 9 (Steel 64) by 42 runsChris Lynn played another destructive, big-hitting innings for Northamptonshire Steelbacks, posting the third T20 century of his career as he put Leicestershire Foxes bowlers to the sword in this Vitality Blast clash.Amid an onslaught of boundaries at Wantage Road, Lynn bludgeoned 106 from just 66 balls with 12 fours and three huge sixes as Northamptonshire closed on 227 for one.Lynn picked up where he left off against Durham on this ground last Friday, sharing another century opening stand with Ben Curran (31). He was then joined by New Zealand international Jimmy Neesham who made a blistering 75 off just 30 deliveries featuring six enormous maximums on Steelbacks debut. The pair put on 118 in just 53 balls of mayhem in front of a near-capacity crowd who gave both batters a standing ovation.In reply, Foxes opener Scott Steel hit 64 from 45 deliveries. His stand of 65 in seven overs with skipper Colin Ackerman offered a glimpse of hope, before young left-arm wrist spinner Freddie Helreich came back from an early mauling to take three wickets for the second time in a week.The Steelbacks’ total was all the more notable given some sharp Foxes bowling and fielding restricted them to 48 in the powerplay. Naveen-ul-Haq was particularly impressive, beating the bat on several occasions.But Lynn soon found his stride targeting all the Foxes bowlers, clubbing them straight down the ground and over deep midwicket. He also found plenty of runs through the covers and past backward point.Not to be outdone, Neesham, fresh from a stint in the IPL, was soon into the fun, adding five fours to go with his six-hitting.The Steelbacks struck early when Ben Sanderson removed Hamish Rutherford. The bowler followed that by taking a running catch off Tom Taylor when Arron Lilley could not quite clear the infield.It left the Foxes in real trouble at 8 for two, but Ackerman led a fightback, cutting Neesham for successive boundaries and then swinging Sanderson over midwicket for another. He took four boundaries off Heldreich’s first over to take the Foxes to 50 for two at the end of the powerplay.Heldreich finally got his man when Ackerman hit straight to Graeme White on the long-leg boundary. Rishi Patel then fell to a stunning one-handed leaping catch by Rob Keogh on the deep midwicket boundary to give Heldreich his second scalp and leave the Foxes at 87 for four.Steel was joined by Ben Mike who struck some lusty blows off the slower bowlers but despite that, the Foxes were left needing 94 off the final five overs. When Mike offered a tame catch in the ring and departed for 30, the end was nigh.Steel continued his aggression, surviving one dropped catch off Heldreich before falling to an excellent catch from Curran at point off Neesham who finished with two wickets.The Foxes went down in a flurry of wickets, Sanderson also collecting three scalps in the process as the visitors closed on 185 for nine.

Pradeep hailed by his team for keeping them in the contest against Afghanistan

Sharda Ugra in Cardiff04-Jun-2019Two yorkers from Lasith Malinga crashed into the stumps and had zing bails light up the growing gloom around the Cardiff Wales Stadium and Afghan hearts, but by then Sri Lanka were as good as home.An oxygen-depleted win but a win all the same in their second game of the 2019 World Cup. Against the event’s sweetheart qualifiers, Afghanistan, by 34 runs (D/L method), which doesn’t prove anything except give Sri Lanka valuable points and a breather – and certainly for Malinga, his first win after 21 ODI defeats and one NR since July 6, 2017.WATCH – Highlights from the Afghanistan-Sri Lanka game on Hotstar (India only)Sri Lanka’s last ODI win against a frontline team outside of Asia was almost two years ago, against India at the Champions Trophy. In between then and now, purgatory, doubt, batting collapses (not that those have gone away) and one defeat after another.Tuesday’s win, says coach Chandika Hathurusingha gives the team the booster shot of confidence they needed. “We really needed a win. We haven’t got much success lately… We need this badly.”The Sri Lankans were to make the single change that may be what is needed to alter their narrative. Even if that meant putting all their eggs in the one basket that Cardiff offered them – picking five seamers in conditions with clouds overhead that made the swinging ball sing. It was this fifth horsemen that was to prevent their apocalypse.Nuwan Pradeep, hipster haircut, gunslinger walk, slinger action, biting pace and mean inswing – and left out on the weekend, turned up and did his job during the work week and produced his career-best ODI figures that made victory possible. Once it was done, the Sri Lankans gathered together in a huddle of relief, bunting Man of the Match Pradeep on his head over and over.Captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s grin was visible from a distance; never mind the fates and losing the toss again, his team had climbed out of the hole they had dug for themselves after recording the highest power play total of the competition and then imploding (7 for 36 in 11 overs.) Twenty runs across the last two wickets did take Sri Lanka past 200 but Hathurusingha said while the score had never seemed enough they had expected the seamers to “bowl well on the wicket, hit the deck hard and hit the seam”. The innings break had not featured a pep talk but a talking-to: “I tell them what has to be done. That they have to come and perform.”It is what the Sri Lankan bowlers did; the 15 wides at the end of the innings will cost them heavily elsewhere, but the extravagance of the Afghan batsmen allowed them to get away with it. The key was to just to pitch the ball up or back of a length, depending on who disliked what, hit the pitch hard when required to create dot ball pressure and extract the error. Or as Thisara Perera put it, “Keep our line and length and don’t panic.” Isuru Udana and Pradeep, the least experienced of the five, were particularly efficient in tandem, Pradeep sending home the two most dangerous Afghan batsmen on the day – the first, opener Hazratullah Zazai and the second captain, Gulbadin Naib.Hathurusingha said Pradeep had “single-handedly” kept Sri Lanka in the game. In conditions like Cardiff where the ball swings and often climbs, he finds himself in his element and there was no better day to put it out on display. Left-arm paceman Udana said of Pradeep: “He was the main man today he was the man who changed the game.” Pradeep had never played with a cricket ball until the age of 20, was discovered through a soft-ball competition, and has had a career for Sri Lanka restricted by a series of injuries. His last ODI was against New Zealand in January, missing out on the March tour of New Zealand due to injury. On Tuesday in Cardiff, Pradeep was quick enough and sharp enough to be the bowler Sri Lanka required to give their world cup campaign the buoyancy it needed.Nuwan Pradeep celebrates dismissing Rashid Khan•Getty Images

On our Smart Stats Forecaster, Naib’s wicket brought down Afghanistan’s win probability from 61% to just under 50%. When Mohammed Nabi went, it nosedived further from 44 to 28 and was spot on in predicting the trend of the contest. The Malinga yorkers were just the celebratory, flashy outlet Sri Lanka needed at the end of a tense game.The combined experience of the senior seamers – Malinga, Lakmal and Perera have played 455 ODIs between them – was to help pass on wisdom and calmness to the younger two. Udana, playing only his seventh ODI, used his experience from the Bangladesh and Afghan T20 leagues to offer insights into the Afghan batsmen to his team-mates. Malinga’s last two wickets with his signature yorkers were the Afghan Nos. 9 and 10 and ended the game, but it was Pradeep that had virtually dragged it out of Afghanistan’s reach and imagination.Sri Lanka on the field were far from ship-shape but they were to find moments of inspiration – Thisara’s diving catch off Zazai on the long-leg boundary, Karunaratne’s direct hit to run out Najibullah Zadran – that made them buzz, bouncing on the balls of their feet, backing each other up. There was Malinga, the angry lion in winter, patting Pradeep on the back after he conceded five wides in the 25th over in an attempt to bounce out the batsman. The Lankans had found the energy and the collective will to compete.Hathurusingha hoped this game was going to change Sri Lankan ODI fortunes, especially at the event where it is most urgent and most noticed. When asked about Malinga’s tongue lashing and whether he agreed with it, he said: “When you play for your country there is a lot of pride at stake. They are all hurting. I’m sure about that. They really, really want to perform well for the country. What Lasith said, whatever he said, is what he believes and I think all the players get a lot of confidence after this win for sure.”Now if only the batsmen could follow.

Stuart Heal, interim chief of New Zealand Cricket’s board of directors, said that the 2015 World Cup would be crucial to the New Zealand board and could help the organisation set cricket up across levels financially

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2013Stuart Heal, interim chief of New Zealand Cricket’s board of directors, said that the 2015 World Cup would be crucial to the New Zealand board and could help the organisation set cricket up across levels financially.”It is only 18 months or less away and it is critical from every which way you want to measure it,” Heal told the . “It is critical for us to reconnect with our fans. It is critical to increase our playing numbers and it is critical because it generates us cash. It is a very lumpy revenue line for New Zealand Cricket and if we can get it up to where the current forecasts are, it will set cricket up financially at all levels.”Heal took over as interim chief earlier this week. Former cricketers Richard Hadlee, Geoff Allott and Martin Snedden were elected as directors, along with administrators like Greg Barclay, Neil Craig, Liz Dawson and Don Mackinnon. The eight new directors were voted in by delegates representing all Major Associations and District Associations, a change that was a result of the revamped constitution adopted by the board in July this year. One of the major changes in the constitution adopted this year was the formation of the “appointments panel” to recommend candidates for the eight-member board of directors. The 28 members of the NZC would then vote to endorse – or reject – the candidates.According to Heal, the change has brought balance to the New Zealand board and has also helped bring in former players into administration.”The lobby group that criticised NZC said there were insufficient cricket heads around the table,” Heal said. “We now have Sir Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden and Geoff Allott. I think that is a fantastic balance in the board and their concerns have been addressed. I think I’ve been appointed as the interim chair to keep some continuity.”On his own position as interim chairman, Heal said the board is likely to finalise the chairman in October and he would decide on putting his name forward next month.Heal also admitted that every decision taken by the board was not likely to be a popular one. “To people who say that New Zealand Cricket is not a business – I completely disagree. It is a $50 million business. About three-quarters of our revenue comes in US dollars,” Heal said. “It is a complex exporting business, to be blunt. If it makes money, then that money filters through to grass-roots cricket.”

Daniel Vettori is expected to make a return to competitive cricket after being named in the Northern Districts squad for the eighth round of the Ford Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2013Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is set to make a return to competitive cricket after being named in the Northern Districts squad for the eighth round of the Ford Trophy. Vettori has been out of action since the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka last year, where he suffered a recurrence of a chronic Achilles tendon injury.The injury kept him out of New Zealand’s tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa, and the current home series against England.Northern Districts coach Grant Bradburn welcomed Vettori’s return to the side. “We’re delighted to welcome a player of Dan’s caliber and experience back into the side as we approach the Ford Trophy Preliminary Finals. It’s been a long road to recovery for Dan this summer and he’s relishing being fit again and ready to play.”Northern Districts take on Wellington on March 20 and have already qualified for the minor preliminary finals.