The Buzz

Andrew Flintoff’s new life as a freelance cricketer could begin with a maiden stint in the commentary box during the Champions League Twenty20 tournament that gets underway in India on October 8, when Somerset and Sussex will be representing England’s interests.

Flintoff’s flat Preston vowels are arguably the least exciting aspect of an otherwise charismatic cricketer, but that is of no consequence to ESS, who own the global rights to the tournament and have made an approach, dependant on how it will impact upon his rehabilitation from knee surgery.

Should his knee stand up to the cramped confines of the gantry, Flintoff’s presence would be a coup for British Eurosport, who have won the right to broadcast the competition, in what will be the first free-to-air cricket on British television for four years. “We are delighted to bring world class cricket to British Eurosport with this brand new and eagerly awaited event,” David Kerr, the company’s director, told the Daily Telegraph.

No, it's not a new Australian reality TV show where contestants compete to drink the most beers and grow the most impressive facial hair while stranded on a tropical island (although that idea has some merit). Australia's federal communications minister Stephen Conroy caused the Senate to erupt into laughter by accidentally referring to Tasmania's Bruny Island as "Boony Island".

"Senator Bushby for example has complained that Telstra should not be allowed to remove pay phones from Boony island ... Bruny island, there's a typo here," Senator Conroy said. AAP reported that "it took some time for the Senate to calm down after Senator Conroy's inadvertent tribute to Boon".

Sourav Ganguly is the Prince of Kolkata but he could be looking elsewhere for a way to become the Badshah of the BCCI. A report in Hindustan Times suggests that Ganguly is looking at the eastern state of Tripura as a means of getting nominated to the national cricket board, the first necessary step to being elected BCCI president. The rotating presidency comes to the East Zone – to which Tripura and Bengal are both affiliated – in 2014, and Ganguly needs to put in some time on the national board before that. He already holds a post with the Cricket Association of Bengal – as chairman of its development committee – but is unlikely to get a nomination from the relatively high-profile state. And, as the report mentions, Tripura is on better terms with the current BCCI establishment than is Jagmohan Dalmiya, the confrontationist, controversial Bengal chief.

Meanwhile, the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) has reacted strongly to the speculation. "There is not even a fraction of truth in this...it's purely baseless and without any logic," TCA secretary Arindam Ganguly told PTI. "I will represent our association in the BCCI AGM. I don't understand why everybody is speculating about Sourav."

Ganguly the captain never set much store by parochialism – looks like he’s in the same groove as an administrator. Which leaves just one question – whatever will Kolkata do without its Prince?

While most cricketers turn to commentary, coaching or the game’s administration following their retirement, there are some who look to serve the people.

Vinod Kambli, the former Indian batsman, is going to contest the state elections from Mumbai, following in the footsteps of Mohammad Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu and Kirti Azad.

What a difference a year can make. Last year, the Deccan Chargers finished at the bottom of the barrel at the IPL and were the league’s laughing stock; this year, the players are laughing all the way to the bank. For fashioning the mother-of-all-turnarounds and winning IPL Season 2, the team also took home an incentive bonus of just over $83,000 – and that’s on top of the $1.2 million prize money and the big, pre-recession salaries. And there’s more to come – franchise chairman V Shankar has promised the players stock options in the company when it goes public. He was delivering on a pre-tournament promise that hinged on the Chargers climbing from bottom to top. The Chargers, Shankar said, would wait for the valuation of the two new teams to be included in the IPL from 2011 before going public. The recession is likely to be done by then, so the wait will surely be worthwhile.

He may have chosen cricket as a career but Pakistan captain Younis Khan is lending his weight to other sports too. Ahead of his team's tour of England next summer, he will be in South Africa for the 2010 football World Cup as Pakistan’s ambassador. Faisal Saleh Hayat, president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), said Younis’ interest in football would help raise the game’s profile in a cricket-obsessed country. “We would love to take him with us to South Africa,” Hayat said. “He will be representing Pakistan there and we look forward to it.”

Younis had invited Pakistan’s football coach, George Kottan, to a cricket camp ahead of the Champions Trophy and said Kottan was impressed with the quality of football at the camp - four or five cricketers were, he said, excellent football players. “I believe that football is a true global sport. Almost every kid plays it no matter where he lives,” Younis said. He also wants his son to take up squash - where Pakistan has a more celebrated history - and not cricket as a career. "We have won so many laurels in squash in the past and it's a pity that we are no more the champions,” Younis told Geo TV. “I would ask my countrymen to encourage their children to take up games like squash, hockey and football. As for myself, I would love to see my son become a world squash champion.”

This is one Test that Mahendra Singh Dhoni hasn't yet mastered. When his college in Ranchi, St. Xavier's College, released the results of its B.Com examination, Dhoni's name had a "failed" against it. This despite him marking himself 'absent' in July this year, and the Controller of Examination declaring that Dhoni's result would be shown as 'absent' because the cricketer missed both his semesters. So what was it that had literally stumped Dhoni? A clerical error, as clarified by college principal Nicholas Tete. "It was a simple clerical error," Tete said. "The list has been removed immediately. When he did not take the examination how can he fail?" A question that Dhoni would have perhaps asked himself, had the error not been noticed.

The West Indies squad arrived in Johannesburg on Monday morning for the Champions Trophy. Half a world away, those left behind were serving up a reminder – as if any was needed – of just why the mess in the Caribbean needs to be sorted out ASAP. While Floyd Reifer was leading his boys off the plane, his predecessor Chris Gayle was blasting out a typical innings – 75 off 59 balls – for a CARICOM Superstars XI against Guyana. The match, attended by Bharrat Jagdeo, the Guyana president and head of CARICOM who recently had charged the WICB with undermining the talks, was part of the President's Premier League Twenty20 series. It also featured other stars out in the cold: Ramnaresh Sarwan, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Daren Ganga and Darren Bravo. So Ricky Ponting, who’s said he doesn’t want to face a second-string West Indies side later this year, knows where to find the real thing.

Cricket sponsorship took a step forward with the unveiling of the world’s first digital trophy in Colombo on Monday. Actually, make that a half-step; while the visuals were fine, including the much-hyped LCD screen in the middle of the trophy, the audio wasn’t. First, the soundtrack to the PR film failed to work and then the suits got into action with a detailed briefing more suitable to an ad client presentation than an audience including top international cricketers. We were promised “an enriching consumer experience, through technology and innovative design”. No wonder the likes of Vettori and Sangakkara looked bored (Dhoni, the third captain in this tournament, wasn’t even there, adding to the incongruency of the occasion). Not a good day, then, for the uneasy, if increasingly symbiotic, relationship between cricket and technology - but the on-field action, beginning Tuesday, promises much more.

Call it the rub of the 'green'. Indian captain MS Dhoni is the world’s highest-earning cricketer, according to the Top 10 list compiled by business magazine Forbes. With earnings to the tune of US$10 million, Dhoni is followed by Sachin Tendulkar in second place (US$8 million), while Yuvraj Singh (US$5.5 million) and Rahul Dravid are third and fourth respectively. The Indian representation is complete with Sourav Ganguly who shared the sixth place with Australian captain Ricky Ponting, with both raking in US$3.5 million.

“Paycheck figures include club and national team salaries and commercial endorsement income over the last 12 months,” Forbes said. “With its deep-pocketed owners and global appeal, nine of the 10 highest-paid cricket players call the Indian Premier League (IPL) home.

“Take MS Dhoni, who plays for the Chennai Super Kings and tops our list as cricket’s first $10 million-a-year man (that’s $5,426 for each run scored). His $8 million in endorsements, from the likes of Reebok, General Electric and Pepsi, is 45 per cent more than any other player.