MUMBAI: The New Zealand series will mark the beginning of Star India?s partnership with BCCI after the former secured the media rights last month with a Rs 38.51 billion bid following a tight bidding process which involved rival Multi Screen Media (bid Rs 37 billion).

The BCCI has finalised the fixtures and venues for the first two series involving New Zealand and England. India will host three major international series from August 2012 to March 2013, involving ten Tests, five ODIs and four T20 Internationals.

The series between India and New Zealand will be played from 23 August-11 September, and feature two Tests and two T20 internationals. The first Test will be played at from 23 August at Hyderabad while Bangalore will host the second Test from 31 September.

The two T20 Internationals between the two teams will be played on 8 and 11 September at Vishakhapatnam and Chennai.

The India-England series, the broadcast rights of which are also with Star, will comprise four Tests, two T20 Internationals and five ODIs, from 15 November 2012 to 27 January 2013.

The Tests and T20s will be played in 15 November-22 December which will also mark the international debut of newly built MCA Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune, which will play host to the second T20 International.

The first Test will be played at Ahmedabad from 15 November while Mumbai will host the second Test starting 23 January. Kolkata and Nagpur will host the third and fourth Test from 5 and 7 December respectively.

The England team will fly home for Christmas, and return in the new year for a five-match ODI series to be played from 11-27 January. The series will feature the international debuts of as many as three venues, in the cities of Rajkot (new stadium), Ranchi and Dharamsala.

Following the India-New Zealand series, the two teams will fly to Sri Lanka to participate in the ICC World T20 2012. ESPN Star Sports has the telecast rights of the World T20.

The Airtel series between India and Australia will be played in February-March 2013, and feature four Tests. The match-schedule will be finalised soon.

MUMBAI: The ICC Board has recommended the name of David Richardson, the ICC General Manager ? Cricket, to succeed compatriot Haroon Lorgat as the ICC CEO to the ICC Annual Conference.

The ICC Nominations Committee met in Mumbai at the weekend to interview four ?outstanding candidates? for the chief executive?s role and on Thursday obtained the ICC Board?s support via teleconference for Richardson?s nomination.

Besides Richardson, those in the fray included England and Wales Cricket Board CEO David Collier and former Karnataka cricketer and head of adidas South East Asia Tarun Kunzru. The fourth candidate was from Australia going by the name Baker.

The ICC Annual Conference is to be held in Malaysia capital Kuala Lumpur on 28 June.

If endorsed, Richardson will become the fourth ICC CEO. His predecessors were David Richards (1993-2001), Malcolm Speed (2001-2008) and Haroon Lorgat, whose current four-year tenure ends on 30 June 2012.

Johannesburg-born Richardson, 52, has been the ICC General Manager ? Cricket for the last 10 years and has an outstanding CV having represented South Africa as a wicketkeeper in 42 Test matches and 122 One-Day Internationals.

On retiring from international cricket in 1998, Mr Richardson, a qualified lawyer, maintained close contact with the game as both a business director with Octagon SA and as a media commentator before becoming the ICC?s first General Manager in January 2002.

After hearing of his nomination, Richardson said: ?It is a great honour to be nominated to be chief executive of the ICC. I am delighted with this opportunity and thank the ICC Board for their approval. It has been a privilege to serve as ICC General Manager ? Cricket, and that work will continue until such time as the ICC Annual Conference ratifies my nomination. I am looking forward to working closely with all the membership and stakeholders in the game."

MUMBAI: Multimedia entertainment studio Electus, an operating business of IAC, has unveiled highlights of its scripted television programming slate. These include the priority titles from an ever-growing slate that will be brought to market at MipTV in Cannes, France, which begins on 1 April.

Electus? block of original scripted programming include: Marco Polo, the new martial arts epic about the thirteenth century explorer, chronicling the famous adventurer?s early years in the court of Kublai Khan; Casca: Based on the cult favorite book series by Barry Sadler, this action-adventure series follows Casca, a soldier who was cursed into a life of immortality by Jesus Christ on the day of the crucifixion.

Written, directed and executive produced by Wayne Kramer, The Lam is a dark drama set in modern day Chicago centered around The Lambert Arms, a full service hotel for criminals.

Written by Rod Lurie and Marc Frydman, The Crux is a drama whose revolutionary concept explores the mystery surrounding George Gabbler, a polished and enigmatic cult leader.

William the Conqueror is a historical epic series following the iconic French monarch through his rise to power and invasion of England in 1066.

Electus has also acquired the rights to distribute various successful international formats for global and domestic distribution, including:

Blue Natalie is a dynamic drama series centered around a family who runs a busy sex trafficking business out of their yacht (Blue Natalie) that is supposedly used to accommodate honeymooning couples, bar mitzvah parties and birthday celebrations.

Based of off of a successful Israeli format (DBS) created by Yuval Fridman, Yuval Semo and Ben Bachar, Zanzuri centers on Pini Zanzuri, an average family man who suffers a heart attack at a surprise party on his 40th birthday and discovers that every man in his family has died of a heart failure at that same age.

This new block of television programming includes original series concepts developed by Electus and its creative partners, as well as successful third party international formats that the studio has acquired for both international distribution and US production.

"From comedies and dramas to epic action/adventure series, our diverse set of scripted programming demonstrates our Company?s ongoing commitment to creating premium, creative content that resonates with TV audiences around the world," said Electus CEO Chris Grant. "We look forward to working with our domestic and international partners to bring these stories to life on a global scale."