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Anil Kumble has reiterated that he sees no conflict of interest in being an administrator – he is president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) – and being head of a company, Tenvic, whose business includes signing upcoming cricketers. According to Kumble, “less than 2%” of Tenvic’s business was related to “mentoring cricketers”, and that too without any commercial benefit.Kumble said he was not in the talent management business and, if he was, he would have gone after top international stars rather than upcoming players. “If I wanted to benefit, or if the company wanted to benefit, I have access to the Sachin Tendulkars, the [MS] Dhonis, the Yuvraj Singhs and everyone else, so why should I look at a youngster?” Kumble told , an Indian television channel.”One thing I would like to certainly clarify, I am no player-manager, nor is my company a talent-management company. That needs to be very clear. The job of Tenvic is mentoring cricketers and we don’t have all the Karnataka players. It’s those two (S Aravind and Vinay Kumar). And as chief mentor of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, we do mentor Indian players who represent them [RCB].”Kumble’s partner Vasanth Bharadwaj had been quoted by magazine as saying that “it doesn’t make any sense for someone [Tenvic] to do the mentoring and someone else to do the commercial handling” of players. Kumble, however, maintained that whatever commercial interest Tenvic had was only “incidental” and there had been no transaction between the company and a player, wherein the company had benefited commercially.”In fact, at Tenvic, it’s an expense for the company in terms of mentoring these people,” Kumble said. “We have already conducted some psychometric tests, which incur a cost and that cost is to the company; it’s not to the player. And the benefit of all this goes to the player, nothing to the company.”Kumble said any talent management company was free to sign Vinay, Aravind or the other Indian players with Tenvic. “If that is what is against me, there is absolutely no conflict. The interest is the benefit of all these young cricketers. There is absolutely no commercial transaction that has ever happened so far. If commercially these cricketers have benefited, there is absolutely no fee that Tenvic has charged. And if somebody wants to take them up, please feel free.”I am looking at the best interest of that player and hopefully he will go on and represent (India). And it’s not just about cricket. I’ve been through all this and I know what it takes to represent at the international level, what are the challenges that you face. It’s just a sports mechanism for all these players and I think that’s the need of the hour. If you look at any sport, at least in cricket the world over, I don’t think anybody has attempted this.”Kumble said that he chose to delay speaking on the issue because of the Royal Challengers’ participation in the Champions League T20. “RCB were in a position where we could go on to win. I didn’t want any other distraction to take over from the focus of what was actually going on and winning the Champions League.”When asked a hypothetical question about whether a 17-year old upcoming batsman in Bangalore would choose a talent management company that offered him a good commercial deal, or go with one that was run by the president of his state association [Kumble], Kumble said that it was impossible to answer hypothetical questions.Kumble also explained his position in a detailed open letter addressed to the “Cricket Enthusiast”. The full text of the letter is available here.

Chris Cowdrey, the former England captain, is recovering after suffering a heart attack last week while visiting a hospital to have stitches in his knee.Cowdrey, 53, played six Tests and led his country once during the 1988 season against West Indies, along with three one-day internationals, and had a 16-year career with Kent.”People always said I was lucky player – well if you’re going to have a heart attack anywhere, then the middle of a hospital is probably it,” Cowdrey said in a statement issued through the Professional Cricketers’ Association. “I only went there to have three stitches in my knee. I suppose this is all about doing too much of what I shouldn’t have been doing and not enough of what I should have been doing for the last 30 years.”I hate letting people down, pulling out of dinners and speaking engagements is not my style but I hope everyone will understand that my priority is getting back to full health and that I have to take it easy.”

Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has suggested that the Pakistan Cricket Board should replace the outgoing coach Waqar Younis with a foreigner, free from the influence of Pakistan’s domestic politics.”I said it when I left as well, Pakistan need a foreign coach,” Lawson, who was sacked as Pakistan coach in 2008, told the from Australia. “Whether you come from Karachi or Lahore, the pressure on you from external sources doesn’t let you do the work properly.”A foreign coach won’t have that excess baggage. He won’t worry about politics but will just concentrate on making the best team he can. In my time, language wasn’t a problem. The common language was cricket and that’s all they had to understand.”Lawson, who currently coaches the Kochi franchise in the IPL, stressed that the language barrier wouldn’t be a problem for a foreign coach.”In my Kochi team, some players don’t speak Hindi so they communicate in English,” Lawson said. “It’s just an excuse for not appointing a foreign coach despite all the experience and assistance he can bring to Pakistan cricket.”Waqar recently announced that the upcoming Zimbabwe tour will be his last, citing personal reasons including his and his wife’s health. During his tenure Pakistan lurched from one controversy to another, including the spot-fixing scandal and Zulqarnain Haider’s mysterious disappearance from the team hotel, but they also managed to show a revival in Test fortunes and belie expectations to reach the World Cup semi-finals.Pakistan have changed coaches frequently in recent years, which Lawson said could be a deterrent for potential replacements. “They will have a very, very difficult time [replacing Waqar],” he said. “Not many will be willing to trust them because of how they’ve acted in the past but I’ll still tell the PCB to get a foreign coach even if it’s on a short, six-month contract.”It’s not so much the situation but the chairman’s [Ijaz Butt] reputation just isn’t good enough for him to invite foreign coaches over to Pakistan.”Lawson was highly critical of Shahid Afridi, who announced a ‘conditional’ retirement from the game after being axed as one-day captain.”He’s playing well enough and I’d love to see him in the team,” Lawson said of Afridi. “However, he needs to realise he’s not the most important person in the team. He’s a part and that needs to dawn on him. He doesn’t accept criticism and thinks he’s bigger and better than the team. That won’t lead him anywhere.”

ScorecardA century from Paul Stirling set Middlesex up for a 34-run victory overDerbyshire in the Clydesdale Bank 40 game at Chesterfield to end the home side’shopes of taking second place in Group A.Stirling made 109 off 81 balls to take the Panthers to 253 for eight with17-year-old off-spinner Peter Burgoyne taking two for 36 on his senior debut forthe Falcons. Chesney Hughes top scored with 66 and Wayne Madsen made 50 but Steven Finn took three for 28 as Derbyshire were bowled out for 219 with 26 balls to spare.The Panthers looked set for a more formidable total when 73 came off the first10 overs but the spinners dragged it back for the Falcons with Burgoyneimpressing on his first-team debut.Hughes also checked the Panthers progress by conceding only 39 from his eightovers and had former Derbyshire captain Chris Rogers caught on the midwicketboundary off a full toss. Hughes should have had Stirling on 51 when the Irishman skied a big pull but Wayne Madsen spilled the chance at midwicket and that proved a costly miss.Stirling went on to an excellent century off 75 balls and he hit six sixes andsix fours before a miscued drive was well caught by Martin Guptill sprinting infrom long off. Scott Newman scored 33 from 39 balls before he was Burgoyne’s first victim whenhe missed a pull and despite an unbeaten 34 from Ollie Rayner, the Panthersmanaged only 68 from the last 10 overs.Rayner swept Burgoyne for six but another of Derbyshire’s promising youngspinners Tom Knight conceded only four from the last over to keep the Panthersin range. Guptill had scored an unbeaten century on the same ground a week earlier in asix-wicket win over Yorkshire but this time he fell to Finn in the first over ofthe chase.The England paceman got the fifth ball of the innings to move away just enoughand although Dawid Malan could not hold the edge at first slip, wicketkeeperJohn Simpson scooped up the rebound.Hughes responded by twice driving Finn to the ropes and he launched TobyRoland-Jones into the pavilion before Finn struck again by bowling Wes Durstonfor 12 in the seventh over. The Falcons’ best chance now rested with Hughes and after reaching his fifty from 51 balls, he pulled Steven Crook for his second six before two wickets inthree balls put the Panthers firmly in charge.Hughes clipped Tom Smith to backward square where Crook held a diving catch andthe slow left-armer then took a return catch to send back Greg Smith. Madsen hit 50 off 57 balls before he was deceived by a Crook slower ball and although Tom Poynton hit Smith for consecutive sixes, Derbyshire’s last three wickets fell in the space of six balls.

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said the spot-fixing controversy that resulted in bans being imposed on three leading Pakistan players has been the biggest disappointment of his tenure. He said that losing Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to the spot-fixing scandal hurt him most since taking over as chairman of the board in October 2008.”It hurt a lot, especially when I came to know the details,” Ijaz Butt said. Salman Butt’s involvement, he said, had come as a shock as he was tipped to lead Pakistan for a long time. “He had the educational background, grooming and performances to carry on as captain. He would have solved our captaincy problems.”Butt also spoke on other players who have not played for Pakistan in recent months, because they have not been given clearance by the board’s integrity committee. He said that in his view Shoaib Malik would be a certainty in the team once he gets cleared by the committee.”In my opinion he can walk into the team,” Butt said. “He came to me thrice and I told him that ‘I am giving you brotherly advice – the integrity committee is not against you and it wants to clear you but first you need to give satisfactory answers to what it want to know’.”We still need him for limited-overs cricket as he is an ideal allrounder.”Legspinner Danish Kaneria has taken the board to court over his continued non-clearance. The court has asked the PCB not to make any comments about Kaneria in public. In the interview, recorded before the order, Butt said even if Kaneria were cleared there was no guarantee he would return to the side.In a wide-ranging, hour-long interview broadcast on Thursday night, Butt spoke on a number of issues, including a plan to resume ties with India that was rejected by the BCCI. “We hope the series will be revived and we told them we are ready to play in India but revenue should be shared 50-50, but they did not accept the proposal.”There have been no bilateral series between India and Pakistan following a worsening of political ties in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. According to the ICC’s new Future Tours Program, India are slated to host Pakistan for a full series in March 2012. The FTP also has provision for bilateral series between the two countries in 2013 and 2015, though it doesn’t mention who will host the games in both those years.Butt was also candid when it came to domestic issues, such as selection; the recent report by the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team (PTT) has also been heavily critical of Pakistan’s selection processes, including the right of veto Butt enjoys over selection. “The selection is not just bad, but terrible from grassroots level and we get lot of complaints about the selection. The national selectors also need to spend more time on the field and they can’t just keep on selecting teams on the basis of looking at performances on paper provided to them by the board.”About his own future, Butt said: “This is something I would not like to discuss because the matter is still not clear. I have my opinion, my boss has his opinion and they are at conflict. But shortly before October, one way or the other, it will be decided. I have an interest in cricket, which is why I am working as the chairman of the PCB, but it is also a fact that I have suffered a lot as I hold certain important assignments and they have been affected.”

The former Queensland captain Chris Simpson, the batsman Lee Carseldine, and the seamer Ben Laughlin, who has played for Australia, are among six players cut by the Bulls for the 2011-12 season. The batsmen Joe Burns and Andrew Robinson were handed contracts, along with Peter Forrest, who this month confirmed he was heading north to continue his career away from New South Wales.The rest of the states will be announcing streamlined contract lists over the next few days, with only 14 to 18 spots available per state, down from 16 to 20 last year. The smaller numbers are a reflection of the new memorandum of understanding between the players and Cricket Australia, and the fact that Twenty20 is no longer included; players will be free to sign separate T20 deals with one of the eight city-based sides.Under the new coach Darren Lehmann, the Bulls have made some significant changes to their batting stocks after a summer in which only two of their men made Sheffield Shield centuries. The veteran top-order player Carseldine, the opener Wade Townsend and the batsman Craig Philipson were cut to make room for Forrest, Robinson and Burns.Burns, 21, was the only Queensland player apart from Chris Lynn to reached triple-figures in the Sheffield Shield last season, when he made 140 on debut against South Australia in February. It was the highest score on debut for the Bulls since Matthew Hayden, and the impressive Burns went on to make a half-century in his next match.At the other end of the age spectrum, Robinson, 30, has secured his first state contract after making his debut for Queensland during the summer. Robinson made 77 in his first match and could become the opening partner for Ryan Broad in the longer format after the demotion of Townsend, who was dropped towards the end of last summer.The allrounder Michael Neser was upgraded from a rookie contract to a full deal, while new rookies will include the 17-year-old batsman Nick Stevens, who made 122 not out in the final round of the Futures League last season. Also on the rookie list is Corey Barsby, 19, who made his Ryobi Cup debut during the summer and is the son of the former Queensland batsman and coach Trevor Barsby, as well as the wicketkeeper James Peirson.”There are a number of young men in our group who potentially have big futures ahead of them,” Lehmann said. “But they will all approach this season knowing they need to work harder than they have ever done before if they want to make the most of that talent.”Queensland chose to contract 17 players and the maximum allowable number of rookies (six), in addition to the fast bowler Ryan Harris, who has a Cricket Australia deal. They lost the fast bowler Nathan Rimmington, who has signed with Western Australia, and axed the rookie Jake Hannan.Queensland squad Cameron Boyce, Ryan Broad, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Ben Dunk, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Peter Forrest, Ryan Harris (Cricket Australia contract), Chris Hartley, James Hopes, Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott, Michael Neser, Nathan Reardon, Andrew Robinson, Chris Swan, Scott Walter.Rookies Corey Barsby, Nick Buchanan, Cameron Gannon, Alex Kemp, James Peirson, Nick Stevens.

Match facts

Friday, May 20, MumbaiStart time 2000 (1430 GMT)Shane Warne’s final hurrah coming up•AFP

Big Picture

Four years ago, Shane Warne’s glittering international career came to an end after he helped Australia whip England 5-0 to regain the Ashes, and he contentedly signed off noting that his team owned every major trophy on offer. The finale of his IPL career has been diametrically opposite, with his inconsistent side, Rajasthan Royals, eliminated early and Warne himself has been in the news over the past week for off-field altercations rather than on-field wizardry.There have been glimpses of the old bewitching loop and cricketing nous but that hasn’t been enough to inspire his team to reach the play-offs. Rajasthan have little at stake in Friday’s match against Mumbai Indians and the highlight for cricket aficionados will be the last chance to see the celebrated Warne v Tendulkar rivalry.Mumbai have been off the boil in the past couple of matches and have lost their seemingly nailed-on spot at the top of the table, slipping down to third. There is still an outside chance that Mumbai may not make the play-offs, a possibility they will look to eliminate on Friday.

Form guide (most recent first)

Mumbai Indians LLWWW (fourth in points table)
Rajasthan Royals LLLLW (seventh in points table)

Team talk

The bowling hasn’t been much of a worry for Mumbai, and it is the batting packed with headliners that has struggled over the past week. It’s likely they will re-jig the order instead of making too many personnel changes.With Rajasthan out of the tournament, it is hard to predict what strategy they will follow. In their previous game, they made an unprecedented six changes, leaving out usual starters Ross Taylor and Johan Botha.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

Andrew Symonds has had a poor IPL so far, and one of the reasons he remains in the XI is the lack of proven overseas alternatives in the Mumbai squad. His combination of talent and temperament is exactly the spark Mumbai need to right their recent failures.

Prime numbers

• Shane Warne has the unwanted record of most ducks in the IPL – seven
• Sachin Tendulkar has nearly a 1000 IPL runs more than any other Mumbai batsman, batting for Mumbai – a majority of Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds’ IPL runs have come for Deccan Chargers
  

  The chatter

  “We didn’t play well. We didn’t bat well. We played way below our potential. We are quite aware of that. It’s quite an important game for us and we need to win it.”

United Arab Emirates offspinner Nasir Aziz has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during the final of the World Cricket League Division Two tournament against Namibia, which was played on Friday.Aziz, 24, was reported after the end of the game by on-field umpires Sarika Prasad and Buddhi Pradhan, along with third umpire Gary Baxter. ICC Tournament Referee Graeme La Brooy handed over the copy of the report to UAE team manager Mazhar Khan on Saturday morning.Where a bowler is reported by the umpires due to a suspected illegal action in a WCL match, the policy requires the relevant member board – in this case the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) – to instigate an assessment. In the meantime, the player is still free to take part in international cricket.The ICC has asked the ECB to make arrangements for the assessment of Aziz’s bowling action within 21 days from today, April 17. As soon as the assessment has been completed, the ECB must formally report back to the ICC as to what the results of the tests were and what action has been taken.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMr. Cricket took charge in typically assured style•AFP

Chennai Super Kings continued their dominance at home and eased to a fourth-successive win in conditions where power play took a backseat to opportunistic strokemaking, and stamina and steady consolidation were more crucial than short outbursts of runs. The sweltering Chennai heat and a slow pitch made it a tiring ordeal for batsmen, and it seemed at one stage that Rajasthan Royals, riding on the back of Rahul Dravid’s fluent half-century, would have the better of the contest. But an inspired recovery from Chennai’s faltering bowlers and a controlled approach to the chase from Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey set up a comfortable win – their fifth in five games at home this season.The Rajasthan openers, Dravid and Shane Watson, had displayed excellent determination to occupy the crease and set a strong foundation to their team’s innings. The pair ran well between wickets, rotated the strike, picked the gaps to scramble back for the twos, before Dravid took charge against the spinners. He pulled R Ashwin twice in an over to the midwicket fence, reverse-swept and punched Suraj Randiv for three fours in an over to different parts of the ground. The highlight of the first ten overs was his inside-out drive over extra cover off Shadab Jakati, as Rajasthan coasted to 86 in the first ten overs.The trigger for the fightback was a brilliant return catch from Jakati off Watson, as he put his hands up and intercepted a ferocious thwack back towards him in the 11th over. Despite an encouraging run-rate, and with plenty of ammunition left in the batting for a surge at the death, the desire for clearing the ropes overrode any thought of building the innings for a few more overs. Ashok Menaria holed out needlessly against Ashwin, and Johan Botha, who had picked a cheeky boundary, succumbed when he tried to use force against Jakati. Dravid was swimming in sweat in the Chennai heat and fell to a tiring shot, and not long after, the seamers returned to contain the flow further. A couple of fours from Ross Taylor was offset by a double-strike from Albie Morkel in the penultimate over, and Rajasthan only managed 61 in the last ten, losing six wickets.The wicket of M Vijay was an early boost for Rajasthan but some sloppy fielding, a difficult opportunity that was grassed, and the maturity of the Raina-Hussey combine put paid to Rajasthan’s hopes. Stuart Binny conceded eight runs in the field, through a misfield and an overthrow, and was listless with the ball. Raina was let off by Watson diving full stretch in the deep, but otherwise there weren’t any opportunities.Like the Chennai bowlers had done in the first ten overs, Rajasthan’s attack erred in line and length, giving the batsmen timely opportunities to pierce the field. Siddharth Trivedi bowled too often down the leg side, and the more accurate Watson and Botha were worked around. With both batsmen settling in well, left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi was carted for two sixes in the 11th over – the same passage in the Rajasthan innings had marked a decisive turn of events. As the shoulders drooped, Binny doled freebies outside off which Hussey cut for successive fours before delivering the same treatment to Menaria on the leg side. Raina’s dismissal was against the run of play, but his knock, along with Hussey’s, had made a relatively one-sided contest out of a potential cracker.

ScorecardSteve Davies played a positive innings to help MCC into a commanding position•Graham Morris

The action reverted more to type in Abu Dhabi following the opening day clatter of wickets as MCC built an imposing 410-run lead against Nottinghamshire. Rahul Dravid finished the day unbeaten on 81 and added 121 for the fifth wicket with Steve Davies after earlier half-centuries from Stephen Moore and Stephen Peters.Dravid made up for his first-innings duck and 72 of his runs came from boundaries as he spent plenty of time assessing conditions against the pink ball being used for this match. It will have been useful first-hand experience for Dravid who is also a member of the MCC Cricket Committee which is pushing forward with experiments into day/night first-class matches.Nottinghamshire were well behind the game when they resumed on 86 for 8 and it didn’t take long for MCC to wrap up the innings. Hamid Hassan bagged the final two scalps, bowling with lively pace, as he finished with 4 for 45 and will take on a more senior role in the second innings after Steve Kirby was forced out of the match with a foot injury. Kirby was replaced by Paul Muchall, an MCC Young Cricketer, and will fly back to the UK for treatment ahead of the Championship season.MCC set about adding to their 110-run lead in solid fashion as the bowlers started to find success harder to come by. Chris Rogers (18) completed a quiet match when he was lbw to Luke Fletcher but a third-wicket stand of 106 from Moore and Peters set a strong platform.Peters hit the first six of the match before Nottinghamshire struck back with debutant Jacob Ball taking three quick wickets including Dawid Malan for a 0 as MCC slipped to 157 for 4. However, Dravid took time to play himself in while Davies opted for a more aggressive route in a productive partnership.Davies had hit ten boundaries when he became Fletcher’s sixth wicket of the match late in the day but Dravid remained firm until the close alongside Mohammad Nabi.