Stanford prepares to break his silence

Sir Allen Stanford: ready to reveal his plans.

Sir Allen Stanford is expected to make an announcement about his future involvement in cricket later this week, as his home island of Antigua returns to the spotlight ahead of the second Test between England and West Indies.

The last time England were in Antigua was in November for the Stanford Super Series, a competition that ended, like last week's first Test in Jamaica, in humiliation. England were bowled out for 99 by the Stanford Superstars, en route to a ten-wicket defeat that meant they missed out on the US$20 million bounty that Stanford had put up for grabs in a winner-takes-all scenario.

Since then, Stanford's involvement with cricket has been under severe scrutiny. In December he closed his cricket office in Antigua and announced the dissolution of his 12-man board of "Stanford Legends", including greats of the game such as Sir Garry Sobers and Sir Vivian Richards, amid fears that he was about to pull the plug on his entire operation.

A subsequent press release reaffirmed Stanford's willingness to work with the ECB, with whom he had signed a five-year deal that included four further US$20 million matches, but left the future of his inter-island domestic tournament up in the air. That was largely as a consequence of the damaging row between the WICB and their principal sponsors, Digicel, which reached an uncomfortable resolution on the eve of the tournament in October, following a victory for Digicel at the High Court in London.

The concerns about Stanford's commitment to the region were intensified last month, when he announced 200 job losses in his Antigua-based Stanford Development Company, leaving the island's prime minister distinctly unimpressed. A spokesman for the company said they "had to reassess the market in Antigua especially in light of the global economic downturn".

Although the exact content of Stanford's announcement is not yet known, it is expected to incorporate both the domestic and 20/20 for 20 arms of his operation. According to the ECB, an announcement is "imminent", with the chairman, Giles Clarke, flying out to Antigua on Tuesday.

Butt and Miandad square off

The Javed Miandad controversy continues.

The ongoing matter of Javed Miandad's resignation as director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took an ugly turn at a senate hearing as the board chairman and Miandad traded allegations over the fiasco. Ijaz Butt admitted to the senate standing committee on sports that he had made a mistake in not settling terms and conditions with Miandad when he joined, but refused to apologise to the former captain, who was also present at the session.

Instead Butt levelled a number of allegations at Miandad, claiming he wanted more money, that he interfered with selectorial matters and that he wasn't a capable administrator. Miandad, visibly upset, denied the charges, claiming he would work on an honorary basis for the board if others did likewise.

The issue of Miandad's resignation had been brewing steadily in recent weeks and last week, senators decided to to get to the bottom of the matter, issuing summons to Miandad to appear. In a heated discussion, senators grilled the PCB chief over every little detail of Miandad's hiring and eventual refusal of a contract. Miandad joined the board in November as director-general, though there was ambiguity over the nature of his role even then. He quit last month, after finally being offered a contract, the terms of which he wasn't happy with.

In particular, Miandad claimed that the nature of his role in the contract letter was significantly reduced from what he had initially discussed with the chairman. That, and not the salary, was what made him change his mind.

Butt did admit there were 'procedural flaws' in the appointment of Miandad, leaving senators aghast that such an established figure was working at such a senior post without any letter of appointment or contract or indeed terms of reference for the post. "I admit it was our mistake as we didn't sign a contract with Miandad when he was appointed as DG in December," Butt said.

Butt also claimed that Miandad was interfering in selecting the national team and had asked for a salary of 1.6 million rupees ($20,000) as opposed to the 500,000 rupees ($6,300) offered in the contract. "Miandad asked for a salary which we could not give to him," Butt said. "I regard Miandad highly as a great cricketer but we can't pay him more than what we had offered him."

But what must have irked Miandad the most - particularly given how close he always said he was to Butt - was Butt's belief that he wasn't a capable administrator. "I have the utmost respect for him as a cricketer and his achievements but he's not capable of handling either financial of administrative matters of the PCB," Butt said.

Miandad's claims that it was the role and not the money which was a problem were lent solid credibility when he produced an internal board memo circulated on December 4 last year. The memo, with Butt's consent on it, makes various board directors, of game development, international cricket operations, domestic cricket operations, the national team coach, manager and chairmen of national junior and senior selection committees all answerable to Miandad. The message, at that point, seemed clear: Miandad was to be in charge of almost all cricket affairs.

But when the contract was offered to him, Miandad was made head of domestic cricket operations and the department of game development only. "This job could be done by anyone and I feel it was not what I was actually promised by Mr. Butt," Miandad said.

Miandad also said he didn't take any money from the board in his two-and-a-half month stint and was now even willing to work on an honorary basis - provided other PCB officials did likewise.

The senators, mostly bewildered that such a situation could even arise, initially pressured Butt to apologise for the humiliation they perceived to have been heaped upon Miandad. Butt stood his ground and refused to do so, thus leading the chairman of the committee to suggest they both sit down together privately and sort out the matter.

"We believe that if you both could work together for the betterment of the game it will be good for Pakistan, so it's better you should sit together and resolve this issue privately," committee chairman Zafar Iqbal said.

Before the meeting, rumour had it that Miandad may well find his way back into the board at a post he was happier with. After today's mudslinging, that scenario has become less likely.

Pietersen likely to captain Royal Challengers

Kevin Pietersen may give captaincy a second shot, this time with his IPL team.

Kevin Pietersen is likely to captain Bangalore Royal Challengers for the first three weeks of this IPL season for which he is available. Pietersen will then hand over the leadership to Rahul Dravid or Mark Boucher, a team source said.

"This scenario is a very strong possibility but a final decision is yet to be taken," the source said. "Shane Warne was denied the captaincy in Australia, and look what he did in the IPL last year (Warne's Rajasthan Royals won the tournament). We expect KP will have a point to prove too with regards to captaincy, and that will only benefit the team."

Vijay Mallya, the team's owner, had hinted at a change of captaincy after the player auction in Goa last week when he bought Pietersen for a record US$ 1.55 million. "The captaincy options are open," Mallya said. "The team management will take a decision on it."

Dravid, the former India captain, had led the Royal Challengers last year when the team finished seventh out of eight -- they were also tagged as a Test XI, including the likes of Jacques Kallis, and Wasim Jaffer.

This time, after Pietersen leaves for the home series against West Indies starting May 6, the team will be led by Dravid, if he is available, or Boucher. Dravid's wife is expecting their second child in the first week of May, and franchise officials are unsure whether he will be available during that period. "After Pietersen and Dravid, Boucher has been identified as a strong captaincy option," the source said. This year's IPL will run from April 10-May 24 but officials are yet to release the final schedule.

Meanwhile, Ray Jennings, the Bangalore coach, feels that Pietersen would succeed as captain of his team even if it is for the short-term. Pietersen had a very short stint as England captain last year but resigned just before the ongoing tour of West Indies. "Kevin may work really well as captain for a short period," Jennings told the Times. "A small amount of time means a limited amount of time for things to go wrong. Captains often have that honeymoon period anyway.

"We bought Kevin to improve our whole profile, which goes beyond cricket. Kevin has great, eye-catching cricketing skills. He is also a very marketable guy. He is a product who can go across India and he might be an ideal captain over four weeks or so."