article: The ECB are to spread the net far wider than expected in their search for the director of cricket to replace the axed Paul Downton. It was widely believed that the new ECB regime led by chief executive Tom Harrison and chairman Colin Graves would waste little time in appointing from a short list of former England captains Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss and Alec Stewart. But instead the Board are going to instigate a recruitment process involving head hunters Sport Recruitment International, who would be expected to suggest some overseas candidates as well as the trio already in the frame. Alec Stewart admitted he has had no contact with the ECB over the  role of England cricket director . Michael Vaughan has been among the leading candidates to take up the newly-created role with England . The main problem is that the job description has yet to be fixed. Crucial issues will be the amount of travel involved and how much power the new director will hold on selection and the hiring and firing of captains and coaches. The ECB are still finalising those parameters before the headhunters start preparing their recommendations. UKIP leader Nigel Farage was spotted in the Tory heartland that is the Halford Hewitt golf tournament played by public school old boys’ teams every April since 1925 at Royal Cinque Ports and Royal St George’s. However Farage, rather than electioneering, was cheering on his alma mater Dulwich College, for whom his son Sam was playing. England manager Roy Hodgson  is keeping in with his boss, FA chairman Greg Dyke, by launching Roses 2015, the annual clash between York and Lancaster universities over 50 sports and 132 fixtures during three days of competition starting on April 24. Hodgson’s appearance at York’s Heslington campus is a favour to Dyke, the outgoing York University chancellor. But a new contract after Euro 2016 might be a bit much to ask in return. Roy Hodgson is launching Roses 2015, the annual clash between York and Lancaster universities . The severe cuts that Sky have been forced to make since agreeing their £11m-a-match Premier League deal is apparent even in the Caribbean. Last year the Sky cricket team stayed at Antigua’s luxury Curtain Bluff resort but are now in the cheaper St James’s Club. Their hotels in England aren’t as good as they’ve become accustomed to either. Meanwhile top Sky executive Andy Cairns, controller of Sky Sports News, has a bell on his desk at Isleworth, though a Sky spokesman insisted he doesn’t ring it to summon staff. Maybe he rings it every time one of his reporters refers to ‘Sky sources’, which would be often. Sofa so good for TMS . Test Match Special have relented over their fierce opposition to Test Match Sofa, who covered matches off the television, and have employed one of the Sofa’s main commentators Dan Norcross for their county cricket team. This would have been unthinkable three years ago when TMS’s Jon Agnew threatened to resign from the Cricketer magazine, who were funding the Sofa operation. And Agnew’s colleague, the late Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote: ‘The thought of having to listen to predators who purport to be producing commentaries from sofa or armchair, without paying a penny to the ECB for the rights, is too ghastly to contemplate.’ TMS producer Adam Mountford said: ‘There is no issue with Dan, he’s a good commentator.’ Test Match Special have employed Test Match Sofa's Dan Norcross (right) for their county cricket team . One face missing from the England tour party in the Caribbean is specialist maths analyst Nathan Leamon, an important figure given coach Peter Moores’ love of data. The ECB say Leamon’s replacement by newcomer Rupert Lewis is merely a rotation policy. Lewis, who worked for New Zealand Cricket, joined the ECB after Stuart Broad’s analyst sister Gemma decided to go travelling. ‘Numbers’ Leamon had an eventful World Cup. He hurt his toe after kicking out in anger in his hotel room following a bar-room debate about the importance of cricket stats, during which he was mocked by the awful Paul Allott for not playing cricket to a high level. It is also understood that Leamon was frustrated that Moores, for all dependence on data, didn’t make the most of his intensely detailed work.
highlights: The ECB were expected to appoint a former England captain for the role .
  The job description for the new cricket role has yet to be fixed .
  Sport Recruitment International expected to suggest overseas candidates .
prediction: The ECB are to 
   in 
   for the director of cricket to 
   Paul Downton 
   England captains Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss and Alec Stewart 
   candidates 
   . 
   has been 
   - 
   role with England . 
   job 
   will be the 
   Farage 
   Greg Dyke, 
   2015 
   York and 
   a new 
   Roy Hodgson is 
  