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New Zealand Cricket’s sports science medical co-ordinator Warren Frost is hopeful an injury surveillance programme can be in place at first-class and international level this summer.The move was necessary because medical staff were finding a steady stream of players stepping up to international play with injury concerns.”We only know what happens at TelstraClear Black Cap level at the moment and we need to know information from the level below.”Because there is no information available we tend to end up chasing our tails when players are selected and we can’t address the injury problems in a competitive environment,” Frost said.He made the announcement when asked to comment on research out of Australia dealing with fast bowling injuries.The report done in Australia was by Dr John Orchard of the South Sydney Sports Medicine Centre, and the report has been published recently in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.The study was done of elite level Australian cricket between the seasons of 1995/96-2000/01 in order to present a profile of injuries and a preliminary analysis of the risk factors for injury.Orchard’s study produced results even before it was completed. During the course of analysis it was revealed that seven injuries occurred in Australia in the first five years of the study from players colliding with boundary fences when sliding to field the ball.On seeing this, the Australian Cricket Board instituted a policy of using a boundary rope. As a result no similar injuries were recorded in the last season of the study.Frost, who heard about the study when with the New Zealand team in Australia last summer, disagreed with some of the findings but said the numbers backed up what had been occurring in New Zealand.”The numbers are comparable. The report quantifies the situation and has given us impetus in establishing the numbers in New Zealand, especially below international level.”The Australian report also made injury comparisons with other sports, including rugby, and Orchard found that overall injuries in cricket were eight percent, compared to Australian Rules football at 15%, first grade rugby league 16% and 13% in state rugby union.But fast bowlers were right up there among the other sports at 14%.Orchard found spin bowlers and batsmen had only a four percent injury percentage and wicket-keepers were down at two percent.Orchard claimed that bowlers were more likely to be injured when their team was bowling second because teams warmed up before the start of play on the first day of games, and there wasn’t enough time between innings for bowlers to prepare.Frost said he didn’t agree with that contention. Orchard also claimed there needed to be more monitoring of the bowler’s workload, as in the way baseball pitchers are monitored.But Frost, who recently returned from a trip to the United States where he studied the baseball treatment of pitchers, found the monitoring was more due to historical precedent than medical fact.”I spoke with the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres about their handling of pitchers. Their best pitchers would start on the first day and throw 100-120 pitches before they were taken off and replaced by their finish-off pitchers.”But when I asked their coaches why they did that, they shrugged their shoulders and said they didn’t know.”Those pitchers would then throw and catch over the next four or five days before they pitched again, but nobody could say why it worked that way,” he said.Frost was loath to make comparisons across different sports, for example rugby was played over 80 minutes and cricket six hours. There was an endurance component to cricket that was required in rugby and there was repetitive action for bowlers which meant it wasn’t surprising they suffered injury.Because of this it was an overuse problem for cricketers, especially with their tendons while rugby players tended to suffer muscle strains or haematomas which could be gone a week later. And rugby injury numbers didn’t seem to be quite as obvious as in cricket such as when a Chris Cairns got injured in the first innings of a match and wasn’t able to play in the rest of it.Frost returned from the United States with the distinct impression that New Zealand was ahead of the US in what it was doing in the sports medicine area.There was much more sharing of information between the disciplines of medicine here.”The value of our medical panel at New Zealand Cricket is that anyone is free to question anyone else. There is no hierarchy.”But in the US they tend to stick to their own areas, and they tend to use machines to look at problems rather than thinking about what might be causing them.”A classic example of difference was at one of the baseball clubs he visited a coach opened a drawer and said the things he was showing Frost were the greatest things going.Frost told him, “They are made in the city I come from.” They were formthotics which are made in Christchurch.Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket’s medical advisors are busy doing their winter screening of 32 players in matters of medical, mechanical, skeletal, dietary and podiatry aspects of their fitness, something that has been done over all recent winters.

Whereas the sweltering heat of May would be a real turn off for cricket fans, the expected participation of superstars or the big names of national cricket would certainly act as a “heat absorber”, attracting the lovers of the game to stadiums, where the thrilling encounters of the last tournament in Pakistan’s domestic arena start from April 29, 2001.Yes, it is expected that the players unfortunately not picked for the England tour would like to grace the cricket stadiums as part of the One-day tournament (Associations), which concludes the 8-month long domestic cricket season of Pakistan. The notable names among these are Moin Khan, Ijaz Ahmed, Humayun Farhat, Wajahatullah Wasti, Ali Naqvi, Danesh Kaneria, Shoaib Malik and others.Currently, cricket teams from 12 cities are associated with Pakistan Cricket Board. After providing absorbing four-day encounters in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade I, these teams now lock horns in the limited-overs contests, whose final is due to be played on May 12, 2001Unlike the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, whose matches were played on round robin league basis, the format of the One-day tournament has been changed. Now the 12 participants have been divided into two pools, comprising six teams each.Pool A consists of Lahore Whites, Karachi Whites, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Bahawalpur, and Peshawar, whereas Pool B is comprised of Lahore Blues, Karachi Blues, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sargodha, and Faisalabad.It is interesting to note that while the teams in Pool B will play their matches at the different venues of the Punjab province, all the matches of Pool A will be played in three stadiums in Karachi, namely National Stadium, UBL Ground No. 1 and Asghar Ali Stadium.The semi-finals of the tournament, due 10th May, would be played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (top team of Pool A v second team of Pool B) and National Stadium, Karachi (top team of Pool B v second team of Pool A). The venue for the final, like most other tournaments, is the Gaddafi Stadium.CricInfo has made arrangements to relay maximum possible matches of the tournament. So log on to the “home of Cricket on the Internet” and enjoy the exclusive coverage of these interesting limited-overs encounters on every alternate day from April 29, 2001.

Following Bangladesh’s fight back on the third day in Mirpur, West Indies coach Ottis Gibson has defended his team’s decision to declare their first innings when they did. West Indies were cruising at 527 for 4 at tea on the second day, when Darren Sammy called the innings closed, after which Bangladesh pushed on to 455 for 6 by stumps on day three.”You can make 600 but you will still need to have enough time to come back and win the match,” Gibson said. “The pitch is flat and the ball didn’t do much for pace or spin. So if you want to get 20 wickets, you need more time to bowl them out.”Sunil Narine going wicketless so far, giving away 89 runs from 21 overs, has been another problem for West Indies. Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan have picked him well, while the maiden centurion Naeem Islam faced 52 deliveries of his to score 32 without being troubled too many times. Gibson expressed his disappointment over Narine, while having good things to say about debutant Veerasammy Permaul.”He [Sunil Narine] didn’t bowl as well as we expected him to bowl, but this is his [fourth] game in international cricket and it’s a learning experience for him. On the other side, young [Veerasammy] Permaul bowled really well. He flighted the ball.”Sammy bowled well too. Today was not all bad for us. We probably expected to get a few more wickets, but we need to work a little harder.”After the first session of this Test match, the Shere Bangla National Stadium pitch lost all moisture that would have ensured some bounce and turn, and transformed into a featherbed – that only ten wickets that have fallen in three days serves as evidence of the same.Gibson put the onus on Bangladesh to still play positive cricket, the hosts yet being adrift by 72 runs in the first innings with four wickets in hand. “There are still two more days to go and I would like to say that Bangladesh will definitely want to win it. If they targeted to draw the match then it would be a negative situation. They played a really good day today and that will give them confidence to win the game. But there are two days ahead of us and they are still behind us, so who knows what will happen.”West Indies most successful bowlers so far have been the faster bowlers: Ravi Rampaul picked up three wickets from his 26 overs while captain Sammy was rewarded for being patient. Gibson said the conditions had taken a lot out of them. “There is not a lot on the pitch, not a lot of swing. So guys running in were trying hard. They put in a lot of effort.”On a flat pitch like that you need to unsettle them with bouncers. But credit to the Bangladesh batsman, they didn’t let us bully them too much.”

Peter Moores, the Lancashire coach, and the Yorkshire assistant coach Paul Farbrace are out of the running for the Sri Lanka job created by Graham Ford’s move to Surrey.Moores has signed a one-year extension to his Lancashire deal which takes him to the end of the 2015 season, while ESPNcricinfo understands that Farbrace has ruled himself out of returning to the team where he was the former assistant coach under Trevor Bayliss.Although never publicly confirmed as being a candidate to replace Ford it is understand that Moores’ a name was discussed by Sri Lanka Cricket during the early stages of the process. It was the latest in a series of high-profile roles that Moores had been linked with in recent months following the Surrey position and managing director of England cricket.He admitted their had been interest although did not specify for which roles. “I have been approached by other people,” Moores told the . “To be honest, you would be a bit worried if you weren’t being linked with other jobs or if no-one ever approached you.”Moores came to Lancashire in 2009 after his acrimonious departure as England coach following the breakdown of his relationship with Kevin Pietersen. In 2011, Lancashire won their first County Championship title in 77 years and although that was followed by relegation in 2012 they gained promotion as Division Two champions last season.Farbrace, meanwhile, left Sri Lanka shortly after being wounded in the Lahore terrorist attack in March 2009 and joined Kent before moving to be Jason Gillespie’s assistant at Yorkshire.Earlier this month, Farbrace told ESPNcricinfo he would be reluctant to leave the county. “Yorkshire is a great place to be and I’m not in any way looking to leave,” he said. “In fact, the last two years have been as good as any in my career. We have a top team on and off the pitch. I’d very happily stay here for several more years and be a part a club that is going to win trophies.”But clearly when a top international job crops up, it is interesting. We encourage players to be ambitious and it should be the same for coaches. It’s good to want to do as well as you can in your career.Steve Rixon, Marvan Atapattu and Romesh Kaluwitharana are believed to be among the frontrunners for the Sri Lanka job.

Ottis Gibson, the West Indies head coach, believes that West Indies legspinner Devendra Bishoo will benefit most from the spin-bowling camp conducted by Saqlain Mushtaq. Bishoo was named as ICC Emerging Player of the Year in 2011, but has since lost his place in the team through a combination of loss of form and competition brought on by Sunil Narine and Shane Shillingford.”I have been saddened by the way things have gone for Bishoo,” Gibson said. “Having come into the West Indies team and become ICC Emerging Player of the Year to where he is right now, I strongly felt I needed to get someone over here to give him the support and the belief and I know he has been doing very well.”Hopefully, this will be the spark that will get Bishoo back into the frame of mind which he had when he got into the West Indies team and did very well.”Gibson had noticed the dearth of resources for spinners when he first took on his current role as West Indies head coach. “One of the things that has disappointed me since I have been appointed West Indies head coach – and this is through no fault of anyone – is that the fast bowlers have had a lot of support and we had a fast bowling clinic – but we haven’t had any specialist training for spinners.”I may be a bowling coach, but Saqlain is an expert in spin bowling, and when I spoke to him about the opportunity to come across and pass on his knowledge – the way I have passed on to the fast bowlers what I learnt from someone like Malcolm Marshall – it was clear it was the right thing to do.”For Saqlain to come and pass on the knowledge that he would have acquired from someone like, maybe, Abdul Qadir and other great spinners was an opportunity that I felt if I could make it happen, it would be something special for our players.”I have been attending the clinic over the last few days and I have been in the sports hall and I have seen how the players are responding to him and I know that it has been something well worth doing.”The camp comes as a particularly good time for the West Indies as their A side are currently touring India, with the senior team to follow in late October for two Tests and three ODIs. West Indies will then fly to New Zealand to compete in three Tests, five ODIs and two T20Is.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShahid Afridi made an impact with bat and ball, scoring 23 and taking three wickets•AFP

Zimbabwe had their moments where they stretched Pakistan with a confident start in their chase of 162, but tackling the spinners in the middle overs was always going to be the bigger proposition. Pakistan’s spin trio – led by Shahid Afridi – put the stranglehold on the scoring with regular wickets and the hosts found the target rapidly slipping away from them. Once the required rate neared an improbable 12, the final passage of play turned tepid.In both innings, Pakistan found the going tough in the first half of the innings but clawed back in the second. Ahmed Shehzad weathered a sluggish start with a solid half-century that set the base for Shahid Afridi to play his natural game and push Pakistan to a competitive score. The Pakistan seamers struggled to contain the openers, but following a few quiet overs of spin, the momentum shifted. Brendan Taylor was looking to play himself into some form, after a poor series against India, and he didn’t have the time or an attacking partner at the other end to help his side reclaim the edge.After being put in to bat, Pakistan lost their first three wickets inside nine overs, all off questionable shots. Tendai Chatara accounted for the first two, and his second wicket to get rid of Mohammed Hafeez was made possible thanks to a brilliant reflex catch by Taylor. That catch was a good example of Zimbabwe’s fielding in the early part of Pakistan’s innings, but they couldn’t put enough pressure on Pakistan in the second half.Pakistan progressed to a less-than-satisfactory 57 for 3 after ten overs, but the turning point in the innings came in the 12th over. It was Elton Chigumbura’s first and he leaked 17, which included a pulled six by the debutant Sohaib Maqsood and two swept boundaries by Shehzad past short fine leg. Pakistan ensured they maintained that momentum till the end of the innings, picking 75 runs off six beginning from the 12th.Maqsood looked promising in a stand of 55 with Shehzad, pouncing on anything short from the seamers. After pulling Chigumbura over deep square leg, he tried to clear the straight boundary the following ball but was done in by an impressive running catch by Vusi Sibanda.Shehzad’s knock was vital in giving Pakistan a base to build on, which was crucial given the under par scores from the rest of the top order. He managed only one boundary in the first ten overs and began to open up in the company of the confident Maqsood. He was caught on the edge of the long-on boundary for 70, attempting a second six. Afridi, sent in at No.6, made a cameo 23 to give the bowlers a solid score to defend.Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza helped Zimbabwe race to 35 off five overs – at the same stage Pakistan had already lost two wickets. Taylor said at the toss that Zimbabwe were more comfortable chasing, and the openers certainly gave the impression. Sibanda didn’t look too troubled by Mohammad Irfan’s pace and lift, improvising by arching his back to steer the ball wide of the fielders on the off side.Saeed Ajmal was brought on in the sixth over as damage control. Captain Hafeez reverted to his seamers and Anwar Ali struck in the first over of his second spell when he trapped Hamilton Masakadza lbw attempting to pull a ball that wasn’t short enough. A set Sibanda lost his leg stump to Afridi, staying back to a flat, quicker delivery. Sean Williams was trapped lbw on the sweep, but didn’t appear satisfied with the decision.What Taylor needed was a form partner and the team management probably erred by not promoting Elton Chigumbura. Chigumbura performed better than some of the specialists in the one-dayers against India and when he walked in today Zimbabwe needed in excess of 17 an over. Timycen Maruma, who came in ahead of him, faced 13 balls for ten runs, at a time when Zimbabwe were desperate for a massive surge. The spinners held sway and the margin of victory was a comfortable 25 runs.

Joe Burns, the Australian batsman who has been representing Leicestershire as an overseas player, is to return home early due to injury.Burns, who has previously suffered a shin problem, will return to Australia to have treatment on a minor hip injury in the hope that he is fully fit to represent Brisbane Heat in the Champions League from mid-September.”Joe has a hip injury which has gradually got worse,” Leicestershire’s head coach Phil Whitticase told the . “He said he was up for selection for our last two T20 games, but he needs to get back to Queensland for their physio to look at the injury.”They have the Champions League coming up and Joe wants to be part of that. So we are happy to send him back – had the roles been reversed, then we would want our player back.”Burns, 23, has enjoyed only modest success. In five Championship matches, he reached 50 only once, failed to register a century and averaged 30.57. He averaged 28.15 in the FLt20 (at a strike rate of 129.60) and just 16.40 in five Yorkshire Bank 40 games.Leicestershire are not expected to replace Burns. They plan to have the West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan back from international duty for the final few weeks of the season and will use Burns’ absence to take a look at a few younger players.Jigar Naik, the offspinner, has also been ruled out for the rest of the season after dislocating his shoulder. Naik had an operation on the shoulder after sustaining the injury in the T20 victory over Nottinghamshire and his rehabilitation is expected to take four months.Leicestershire are currently bottom of the Division Two Championship table, having failed to win any of their first 10 games, and failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the FLt20.

Following another Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel defeat in the inaugural Caribbean Premier League (CPL), captain Dwayne Bravo is emphasizing that he is still maturing in his role as a captain. Bravo recently came in some flak following disappointing home series against India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, which also saw a dip in the all-rounder’s form. With fans mulling over his leadership qualities, Bravo made it clear, “I’m backing myself to do well as a captain of any team I lead.”The most recent CPL loss to Jamaica Tallawahs has reignited talks over Bravo’s ability to captain, as Trinidad’s dismal form has been compounded by three consecutive losses. “I know fans in the region, and in Trinidad, may be questioning my ability to lead, but I ask them to bear with me. I’m growing as a captain. I see it as a learning curve and a patient process. It’s not easy to adapt but I am trying. I’m confident I’m the man to do the job and I just need folks to rally around me.”In Jamaica’s five-run victory, Bravo bowled the 19th over and was slaughtered by Vernon Philander and Danza Hyatt for 26, when the likes of Samuel Badree (0 for 7 in two overs) and Suliemann Benn (0 for12 in two overs) were expected to finish at the death of the innings. “I know we have good bowlers but I had good figures up until that point and I was confident as the most experienced bowler. I’ve been in this pressure situation many times [before] and pulled it off, but unfortunately today, it didn’t work out. If we had won the game, people wouldn’t be talking about the over, but we lost so it stands out more,” he admitted. “I’ll accept responsibility. I have to work on my bowling because it’s been letting me down recently, but today I was glad to give a good batting display.”Bravo confessed that he would remain undaunted in his capacity to deliver. “80% of the fans will be for you when you’re going through a rough patch. The other 20% would say otherwise, but I just need a win and some good individual performances to convince everyone otherwise.”Everyone has ups and downs as captain – Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and even Ricky Ponting, when he lost Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne to retirement. But history doesn’t remember those periods as much, it remembers they were great captains. I aspire to be that same thing,” professed Bravo rather dejectedly.The loss exacerbated a miserable start by Bravo’s unit, but he ensured that he was ready to make changes, reassess and lead the right eleven out in the future. He did say that it was frustrating coming off the heels of some off-key West Indies performances of late. However, he indicated that his role as mentor to the younger players was not deterred. Nicholas Pooran, who turned in another elegant cameo against Jamaica Tallawahs, is a player he wants to groom.”He has the ability and talent [and I] can see him become the next Kieron Pollard. I’m the captain and I would like to see Nicholas continue playing his natural game, freely and organically, and we’ll guide him. This keeps him grounded and we should support players like this. He can bat both left and right-handed, and I’m urging him to show this at some point in the CPL. I’m there to encourage youngsters to give it their all.”A captain is as good as his team. I am aiming to improve for my franchise and the West Indies. It’s a dream come true to lead my country and the West Indies, ever since I was a little kid. But I wasn’t groomed in my career to lead. I’ve been learning through playing and it’s been challenging. But I’m gathering experience and I’m hoping for support from the regional fans. I know I’ll win you over and bring joy to you soon.”

Ryan Harris will make his return to the bowling crease in Australia A’s match against Gloucestershire in Bristol on Friday, as he steels himself for an Ashes campaign that looms as the defining moment of his international career.After a carefully managed recovery from an Achilles complaint that forced him home early from the IPL, Harris yearns to make a lasting impression in the 10 Tests against England, and is equally bullish about the quality of Australia’s pace bowling resources.A much admired figure in Australian cricket, Harris has been interrupted by injury at too many junctures of his late blooming career, but the repeated setbacks have not dimmed his desire to contribute as a high class new-ball bowler, nor his value to the team when fit. At 33, he will also bring valuable experience and perspective to an Australian dressing room that has shown increasing signs of dysfunction over recent months, ever since Michael Hussey’s decision to follow Ricky Ponting into retirement.”I’m looking forward to playing and can’t wait to get out there and get back into bowling, not Twenty20 style bowling but proper bowling, and getting into good spells,” Harris said in Bristol. “Hopefully bowling 20-30 overs would be nice. Leaving India wasn’t ideal, but getting home and getting the treatment I needed, the Achilles actually reacted really well to treatment, so coming over here and being able to bowl lots and lots of balls in the nets has been great. In saying that I’ve just about had a gut-full of that, I’m ready to bowl in games.”In regards to my rehab, this is the reason why you have to get through and get back and rehab and do all the stuff. I wanted to be here in an Ashes series in England, and I want to play the one in Australia if things go to plan.”They’re the things that keep you going. And love of playing the game as well that’s what’s keeps you going. ‘You’re a long time retired,’ that’s what I keep being told, so there are a lot of gym sessions and stuff where I woke up in the morning and didn’t want to go but had to go, had to get strong. This is the reason why – I wanted to be here for the Ashes.”A handsome record of 47 wickets at 23.63 from 12 Tests is one of the major reasons the national selectors, aware that his best is close to irresistible, have kept faith with Harris. Moving the ball both ways at high pace and with a skidding trajectory, Harris has earned occasional comparisons with the likes of Dale Steyn and James Anderson. The latter is leader of a formidable England attack, but Harris had no qualms rating Australia’s pacemen in similar terms, noting their growth together as a unit.”I wouldn’t say he’s the benchmark,” Harris said of Anderson. “He’s consistent and been so over the past couple of years, which puts him up there as one of the best in the world and he probably deserves that title. But our attack, we’ve got a very good attack if not better. We’ve got good pace and when the boys get it right we’ve got good consistency. James Pattinson has come back, he’s been bowling unbelievably well and fast during the trial games.”Peter Siddle’s doing the same, Mitchell Starc he’s another one – he’s come back from injury and if he goes anywhere near what he was doing last summer, which I’m hoping, [Alastair] Cook will find it very tough facing him with those big thunderbolts going away from him. Our attack is suited for these conditions and we’ve got one of the best attacks in the world over here.”The camaraderie [among the bowlers] is excellent. We’re all good mates. If we have to rest someone or if someone does go down, touch wood they don’t, but the guy who is stepping in can do the same sort of job. We’ve spent a lot of time together so we know each other very well. We hang out and eat dinner together and talk about the game together which is really good. I think it’s a really healthy relationship.”As for a rash of dire predictions about Australia’s likely performance in the series, Harris said recent form had given observers little else to conclude. But he was forthright in his belief that Australia’s best would be good enough, and that the team was preparing as meticulously as possible for the task at hand.”We’re not worried about that sort of stuff we’re going to cop that we haven’t played good cricket in the past six months. We know that,” he said. “We’re here to play good cricket, that’s why the Australia A team have been here, the Champions Trophy boys have had enough training in these conditions. We came here and acclimatised to these conditions early and that’s all we can do. If we go out there and don’t play our best cricket, we’ll get beaten. If we play our best cricket we’ll win.”

A day after taking charge of the BCCI’s day-to-day affairs, Jagmohan Dalmiya is yet to fill up the key posts of board secretary and treasurer. The sticking point, it appears, is the lack of suitable candidates, with the possible replacements either occupied with their primary roles in and outside the game or wary of accepting a temporary, high-stakes position.Both Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke, who resigned as the BCCI secretary and treasurer last week, had conveyed their inability to reconsider their decision on Monday. Shirke told ESPNcricinfo that he had written to the BCCI “before” Dalmiya told the media he would give Shirke another 24 hours to make up his mind. This meant Dalmiya had to swing into action at the earliest, with the board finding itself facing multiple issues and lacking its two main executive officials.And even Dalmiya, a seasoned administrator, can’t do much about the delay in filling up the vacancies – both positions are on an honorary basis – because of a lack of viable options.”Most of the most eligible options don’t want to consider the role since they are either too busy with their primary commitments or due to the fact that none of them are too forthcoming to accept the role as a caretaker at a time when the responsibility is so huge,” a board insider said. “Most of them would prefer to be appointed office-bearers for a full term rather than being appointed as a caretaker for just three months going into the AGM.”Anurag Thakur, the incumbent joint secretary, was clearly the first choice to take over from Jagdale. However, Thakur, an MP and leader of the BJP, the main opposition party, declined the offer since he couldn’t spare “so much time from preparations for the next year’s (general) elections.”With Thakur unavailable, former India captain Anil Kumble and Orissa Cricket Association chief Ranjib Biswal emerged next in line. However, it is unlikely, for different reasons, that either of them would be willing to take up the offer. Biswal is in the UK as the Indian team’s manager for the Champions Trophy and could be there till the tournament is over on June 23. Besides, ESPNcricinfo understands that Biswal, a former MP, is contemplating contesting next year’s parliamentary elections, so he would also not be able to spare a lot of time for BCCI affairs upon his return.Kumble, on the other hand, already wears too many hats. The president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association also heads the ICC’s Cricket Committee and is mentor of Mumbai Indians. His association with an IPL franchise from another region of the country has already invoked opposition from a few KSCA members ahead of the KSCA elections. If Kumble accepts the role, he will either have to quit as Mumbai Indians mentor or be prepared to handle the next episode of the “conflict of interest” series in Indian cricket.This could eventually mean that either Anirudh Chaudhry or SK Nair, two of Dalmiya’s staunch loyalists during the Kolkata businessman’s stint as the BCCI president, could be handed over the crucial responsibility. Chaudhry, son of former BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra, heads the Haryana Cricket Association, while Nair was the BCCI secretary when Dalmiya was dictating Indian cricket’s administration.As for the treasurer’s post, Sanjay Patel, Baroda Cricket Association’s joint secretary who is also a member of IPL governing council, and Biswarup Dey, Cricket Association of Bengal’s treasurer, have emerged as front-runners. Mumbai Cricket Association acting president Ravi Savant, a chartered accountant, may emerge as a dark horse.Besides appointing secretary and treasurer, Dalmiya also has to reconstitute the probe panel to enquire complaints against Gurunath Meiyappan, BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law who was granted bail in the IPL betting case, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. However, it was learned that the office bearers’ appointments was the “top-most priority” and the probe panel’s reconstitution would follow soon after that. ESPNcricinfo’s repeated attempts to get in touch with Dalmiya didn’t materialize since he was “busy with business meetings”.