Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar said on Friday he was taught torespect decisions of umpires very early in his career “but at timesdue to unavoidable pressures I have reacted negatively for which Istill have regrets.”Inaugurating the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s two-day 13thall India Umpires’ seminar in Mumbai, Gavaskar said players shouldlearn to respect the decisions of umpires so that the game can go onsmoothly as cricket is considered to be a gentleman’s game.Gavaskar, who is also one of the leading TV commentators in the worldtoday, said new technology has put umpires under tremendous pressure”but still I think they are doing a very good job out there as theyhave to be 110 per cent sure of their decisions.””When you watch replays on TV, you see 95 per cent of the decisionsmade by the umpires are right and it is human that a few decisions maygo the other way due to the tremendous pressure faced by umpires,” headded.The second highest run getter in Test cricket, Gavaskar said he wasfortunate to have umpires like Pillo Reporter, MV Gothoskar, PRPanjabi and AM Mamsa when he was playing.”In fact, during my days players and umpires had a good rapport onand off the field and we would discuss the rules and regulations ofthe game in detail,” he said.Gavaskar, recipient of the Padma Bhushan and Maharashtra Bhushanawards, praised the BCCI for conducting such seminars, saying they actas a platform for umpires to exchange their views.”The seminars also help discuss the new rules of the game and give aninsight into the problems faced by umpires in the country,” he added.BCCI secretary JY Lele, joint secretary Jyoti Bajpai, Mumbai CricketAssociation (MCA) joint secretaries Ratnakar Shetty and MayankKhandwala, vice president Pravin Bharve and international umpires AVJayprakash, SK Bansal and VK Ramaswamy attended the seminar.About 180 umpires from all over the country are participating in theseminar.

Danish Kaneria completed a dream comeback when he bagged a match haulof 12 for 94 as Pakistan sent minnows Bangladesh spinning to defeat byan innings and 264 runs well inside three days of the Asian TestChampionship opener remaining at the Multan Cricket Stadium Friday.The 20-year-old Karachiite, who claimed six for 42 in the firstinnings, followed up with six for 52 in the second as Bangladesh werebundled out for 148 some 45 minutes before an extended first sessionof the third day.The newest Test nation had resumed this morning at 55 for three andrequired 412 to make the reigning champions bat again.The victory margin was also the sixth biggest in the 122-year-oldhistory of Test cricket and second largest since the West Indies beatNew Zealand by an innings and 322 runs at Wellington in 1995. Pakistanhad also equaled Australia’s world record of five centuries in aninnings in this Test when Saeed Anwar, debutant Taufiq Umer, Inzamamul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and Abdur Razzaq reach three figures.Waqar Younis’ promise of securing maximum points was also fulfilledwhen Pakistan collected 24 points – 16 on the basis of an innings winand four each for bowling and batting. His opposite number NaimurRahman, who had hoped to get a couple of bonus points, however,returned empty handed.Without belittling Danish’s marvelous bowling performance,Bangladesh’s inept display raises questions of whether they were giventhe Test status prematurely. It was Bangladesh’s fourth successivedefeat since getting into the ICC fold last June. With all due respectto Bangladesh, they were no better than a club side of Karachi andLahore.Danish was simply unplayable on the third day against an indisciplinedand out of sorts Bangladesh batsmen.Lady Luck continued to smile on Waqar Younis as he wrapped up the tailafter removing the openers on Thursday to finish with four for 19. Hehad match figures of six for 44 – an excellent achievement consideringthe fact that the strip had nothing much for the pacers.Captaincy seems to have suited the once toe-crusher as he looks thesame bowler who was once hungry for wickets and had fire in hisbowling but got little opportunity to deliver.If Waqar managed to take six wickets, Wasim Akram remained wicketlessfrom his 19 overs in the match. Wasim bowled well, defeated the batseveral times and saw a couple of catches dropped of his bowling.As regards Bangladesh, one-down batsman Habibul Bashar delayed theinevitable after the tourists had slumped to 96 for eight. He added 45runs for the ninth wicket with Hasibul Hossain to prolong the innings.Habibul remained undefeated on 56 that included five boundaries. ButHasibul was more aggressive belting for fours and a six in his 23-ball31.Bangladesh now proceed to Colombo where they will play Sri Lankabetween Sept 6 and 10. Pakistan players will reassemble on Sept 6 toattend a 10-day camp.

There was brilliant sunshine when India took on South Africa at theNew Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on an October Friday afternoon.South Africa is a tough side to beat and to topple them at home isnever an easy task. The last time these two teams met in an ODI was inthe semi final of the ICC KnockOut Tournament at Nairobi; A masterly141 by Sourav Ganguly ensuring that the South Africans were thrashedby 95 runs.South Africans must have been smarting from the loss in Nairobi andIndia had a problem to deal with, finding a fit eleven. The Indianskipper is a key player and he made the right decision to playhimself, despite having injured himself in a warm up game. ShaunPollock’s decision to put Indians to bat first was a surprisingdecision. This was the first match of the tri-series and the SouthAfrican skipper must have decided to give his fast bowlers a chance tohave a go at the Indian batsmen first up.

The first over was a pertinent indicator that Ganguly and SachinTendulkar meant business. The very first ball of the match wasdispatched for a four through cover point by Ganguly, the sheer timingand the lightning fast outfield suggesting that there were a lot ofruns to be scored by the end of the match. Ganguly’s all-round strokeplay and Tendulkar’s mastery must have put the doubts back in to themind of Pollock about his decision to bowl first on a wicket, whichwas a beauty made for batting. The two master batsmen dominated withtheir aggressive strokeplay and went on to show that the highly ratedSouth African fielding can also wilt under pressure.Tendulkar and Ganguly made most of the dropped catches and went on toreach their well deserved hundreds. Even though he has been out ofinternational cricket for the last three months due to an injured toe,Tendulkar once again proved that he is a genius and in a class of hisown.Ganguly’s aggressive batting and the supreme form he displayed shouldsilence his critics. I only hope that Ganguly continues in this richvein, as it will do a great deal of good for Indian cricket. In myopinion he is the best man to partner Tendulkar at the top of theIndian innings.Unfortunately, the Indian team has a habit of losing their way afteran excellent start. It was an appalling sight to see the Indiansunable to cash in on the good work done by the openers. I am surprisedby the so-called experienced Indian batting, which looks very brittlein the middle. The cricket lovers in India must be wondering whetherwe are only tigers against lesser opponents who turn tail when upagainst better teams.South Africans, for their part, played like thoroughbred professionalswith a clear game plan. They showed a lot of character anddetermination in chasing a big total. The remarkable thing is thatthere was only one player who got a hundred, Gary Kirsten. The SouthAfricans though were never in trouble and they exposed the limitationsof the Indian attack.Having said that, I have to comment on Anil Kumble who was making acomeback after a long lay off. Kumble was not in his elements, failingto find the right line and length. He must get his act together to bea strike bowler. After seeing him bowl at the Wanderers, I wonderwhether his long absence from the game has taken a toll on him. Onlygood performances in the following matches will set things right forKumble.The first ODI should be a good lesson for the Indian management, toreview their game plan and even deliberate on the team composition, ifthey have to give the South Africans a good fight during the rest ofthe tour.

A target of 273, constructed largely and painstakingly by Nayan Mongiaand Himanshu Jadhav, stared Rest of India in the face as they startedtheir run-chase. With one day to go and 213 runs still to get, DayFive of the Irani Trophy promises to be a humdinger.Mongia, unbeaten overnight, retained his mode of sedate play. Hittingseven fours in a restrained knock, his 52 off 165 balls ended whenBaroda still had considerable distance to traverse to a challengingtotal.Wickets fell at regular intervals; after Mongia was snapped up bySarandeep Singh, Rishikesh Parab was caught behind off HrishikeshKanitkar. Tushar Arothe and Umang Patel fell in quick succession,leaving Baroda reeling at 199 for six.It was then that Himanshu Jadhav started farming the strike, ensuringthat the lower middle order faced as few balls as possible. Thedeparture of Rakesh Patel and Valmik Buch immersed Baroda further inthe mire, but Irfan K Pathan provided Jadhav stout support.Jadhav left finally with the score on 269, making 42 off 109 balls.The Pathans added a few more to the tally before Irfan K Pathan wasbowled by Tinu Yohannan for 32 off 45 balls, ending Baroda’s inningsat 285.Rest of India started disastrously, losing both openers with the scoreon six. Kanitkar and VVS Laxman then built the score up steadily,rotating the strike frequently; Kanitkar, however, was caught behindoff Irfan K Pathan for 21 off 45 balls.At the close of play, skipper Laxman, hoping to revive his battingfortunes ahead of his departure for South Africa, and Dinesh Mongia,the first innings hero, were unbeaten on 26 and 6 respectively.Knowing Laxman’s penchant for long innings and Mongia’s form, it isentirely possible that Rest of India reach 273 with little fuss. ButBaroda’s bowlers, inspired by a pitch that is falling apart, will belooking to skittle Rest of India out for far less.

New Zealand’s Cricket Academy made full use of the head start it made to the season last week, and the batting skill of Chris Cairns, to beat Central Districts by 79 runs in a 40-over match at Lincoln Green today.It was the only day of four scheduled days for CD at Lincoln University after bad weather in the Canterbury region.The Academy side batted first at CD’s request and lost Brendon McCullum who misjudged an inswinger from the fourth ball he faced, from Ewen Thompson, while fellow opener Jamie How was defiant for 50 minutes before being trapped leg before wicket by Brent Hefford.However, Shanan Stewart and Nick Horsley regained some initiative for the Academy in a 66-run third wicket stand in only 52 minutes. Stewart was first to go when caught at deep backward square leg on 31 when picking up a ball from off spinner Campbell Furlong.Horsley was in full cry however, and he put together 86 at almost a run a ball before he was out to Thompson’s bowling having hit two sixes and 10 fours.Any hopes CD had that they had gained the breakthrough were soon allayed when Cairns took control. Michael Mason was on the receiving end at one stage when in the space of seven balls, Cairns scored 22 runs, including three sixes. He raised his 50 off only 33 balls with four sixes and five fours.Cairns finished 84 not out, scored off 41 balls and he ended with seven sixes and seven fours. He found a solid ally in Nathan McCullum who scored 28 off 24 balls as 83 were added off 47 balls.It took only 19 minutes for the Academy side to move from 200 to 250 and at the end of 40 overs the Academy were 266/6. All of CD’s bowlers took a pasting with Thompson the only bowler to take more than one wicket with his two for 48 from seven overs.The Academy bowlers were miserly in their approach and only 30 runs came in the first 10 overs and by 20 overs the score was only 61/1. David Kelly and Peter Ingram scored 98 in 78 minutes for the second wicket. Both batsmen fell to Nathan McCullum’s spin bowling for 50 runs while Furlong retired on 35, scored off 30 balls.Time and overs ran out for the CD batsmen and the score was 187/5 when the 40 overs were completed. Nathan McCullum finished with two for 34 from his six overs. Cairns had none for 19 from his five overs.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming’s choice to bowl first in the second Test at Hobart yesterday was the talk of newspapers covering the match today.New Zealand Herald: “It was hard to decide last night which blunder was going to cost New Zealand more – the non-selection of Chris Martin or the decision to ask Australia to bat first in the second test at Bellerive.”Despite a Daniel Vettori-inspired fightback it was still a calamitous day for New Zealand, as the bowling attack was demolished for the second consecutive occasion by Australian opening batsmen Justin Langer (123) and Matthew Hayden (91).”The last time New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming inserted this pair they piled on 224 so it may have been considered something of a victory yesterday when they were restricted to a mere 223, as Australia marched through to a commanding 411 for six at stumps.”It could have been worse but for a touch of Vettori magic through the second and third sessions.”The left-armer indicated a return to his best form with four precious wickets.”The Sydney Morning Herald: “Driving is Langer’s hallmark and was again to the fore, but both left-handers were given no shortage of fodder to pull as the Kiwis were again left to question the wisdom of sending an opponent in.”Old slow-coach Hayden got a wriggle on after Langer’s departure, leaving his crease to lift Daniel Vettori to the cover and straight boundaries. Nine runs short of a fourth century of the calendar year, he lifted the spinner straight to long-on.”Vettori was doing all that a spinner has to do, holding his nerve and getting just enough turn. He soon had Mark Waugh in two minds, playing inside a drive after skipping forward and losing his off stump.”First-gamer Shane Bond hit Adam Parore’s gloves harder than anyone, particularly in a pre-tea spell in which he hit Steve Waugh’s as well. The captain, again confronted with a leg gully, a short leg and short bowling, watched the ball bob just out of reach.”Bond, a trainee policeman with a good name for hunting down his man, kept at him and made Waugh his first Test victim with a leg before verdict that bemused the batsman. It might have passed over, but a similar appeal minutes earlier might not.”The Daily Telegraph: “For the first time in 1570 matches through 124 years of international cricket, two left-handers have made three century opening stands in as many Tests. Langer and Hayden have two of the five century partnerships scored at the top of the order in Australia’s 40 Tests against New Zealand, they are the only pair to do it twice and the only ones with a double century to start the innings.”Moreover, Langer is the first Australian to score a century in three successive matches since David Boon on the 1993 Ashes tour.”In Brisbane, Langer should have been leg before wicket to the fifth ball of the match but survived.”Yesterday he was dropped by Matthew Bell from the seventh ball of the game while on one, after cutting Daryl Tuffey’s first delivery hard and high to gully.”Langer then put the New Zealand bowlers to the sword. His 50 came in just 48 balls with 10 fours – mostly blazing drives and pulls. Hayden was only one at the time.”Once Langer went, Hayden holed out to long-on on the verge of another century, mis-hitting a flighted delivery from Vettori.”New Zealand Press Association: “Some commentators suggested New Zealand were foolish not to select accurate fast-medium bowler Chris Martin who has taken 28 wickets in seven tests and could move the ball away from the left-handed opening batsmen.”Fleming acknowledged he had made a mistake by asking Australia to bat first after winning the toss.”‘The moisture was in there but it just didn’t do as much as we had hoped,'” Fleming said.”‘I’m probably feeling the most disappointed out of anybody.'”‘Once we realised there wasn’t much (movement) there, we had to settle in and do some work. We obviously didn’t do that well enough until halfway through the second session.'””That was the Black Caps’ best period when both openers were dismissed and memories of the first test in Brisbane were revived as Australia lost five wickets for 44.”

Opener Salman Butt was retained Pakistan captain for nextyear’s Youth World Cup to be played in New Zealand from Jan15.Paceman Junaid Zia, son of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, was retained vice-captain.Chairman of junior selection committee Zaheer Abbas alsoannounced the squad and unnecessarily made comments on theability of the team which landed him in an embarrassingposition.As Zaheer said the team had good bowlers and fielder but notquality batsmen, he was left dumb-founded when he was askedwasn’t it strange that Haroon Rasheed (team coach) hadfailed to improve the technique of the stroke-makers despitebeing a batsman of repute.Zaheer said more emphasis would be laid to improve thebatting department in the training camp which would be heldat Rawalpindi, the dates of which would be announced later.He said Rawalpindi was selected for the camp as it hadsimilar grassy pitches as in New Zealand.Five reserves players were also announced.Squad: Salman Butt (captain), Atiq-ur-Rehman, KhaqanArsal, Asim Munir Butt, Mohammad Fayyaz, Irfanuddin, AzharAli, Amin-ur-Rehman, Arslan Mir, Kamran Sajid, KamranYounis, Najaf Shah, Umer Gull and Junaid Zia (vice-captain).Reserves: Mohammad Khalil, Zulqarnain, Saqib Zia,Azam Husain, Yasir Shah.

Ben Smith reached his second double century in first-class matches for Central Districts against Canterbury at Pukekura Park today, transforming at one stroke this match and his season.Smith had scored 32 runs in five previous State Championship innings this season and seemed a player well short of his best form, a player struggling to recover the prolific scoring touch of a season ago when he was Central’s batting mainstay.But as Smith turned around CD’s first innings over the past two days, taking them from two for two on his arrival at the crease to a bold declaration at 336/5 – 92 runs behind Canterbury – he also brought to an end his own batting slump.”It’s a mental thing,” Smith said after being left 200 not out at Central’s teatime declaration, only four runs short of his highest score in first-class matches. “Thirty five runs at [an average of] seven suddenly becomes 235 at 40.”That’s the marvellous thing about the game of cricket. Things can change so suddenly and so completely, even with a single innings. Now I feel confident and comfortable at the crease and I’m ready to get on with the job of scoring runs.”Smith now stands only 54 runs away from 10,000 runs in first-class cricket – a milestone he might yet have the opportunity to surpass in this match.The onus has fallen on Canterbury to reciprocate Central’s imaginative declaration and to foster the possibility of an outright result on the final day of the match tomorrow. Canterbury were 102/4 in their second innings at stumps tonight, leading by 194 runs overall but having lost four important wickets in 31 overs before stumps.Central have challenged Canterbury to make a declaration tomorrow which will make the last day of 2001 a memorable one for New Plymouth’s cricket fans. Judging that declaration will be difficult.Smith believes Canterbury might leave Central 300 to 320 to score in 70 or 80 overs but Canterbury will have in mind Smith’s form and the fact they scored 301 in 80 overs on the game’s first day on the way to their first innings of 428.”I think there’s no way after we played as well as that and made a declaration like that that Canterbury won’t come to the party,” Smith said. “It’s in their interests as much as ours to make something out of the last day. For one of us to walk away with six points before we get into the one-day series would really set us up for the second part of the season.”I think the slow bowlers could play a big part tomorrow but, having said that, there’s still a bit for the quicks and all four new balls have done a bit. The consistency of the wicket is tremendous and it was great to bat on.”Smith was aware he was encroaching on his highest first-class score when Central’s declaration came today but he calmly accepted the decision to withdraw while that milestone was within range.”The message came out that we were looking to declare at tea and while I wasn’t sure whether things had changed or not I could see the sense in the declaration and I’m happy with my score.”Smith’s innings gained in importance because of the background against which it was achieved. Central had lost both openers to lbw decisions when he came to the wicket at five minutes past four last night with his team two wickets down and with only two runs on the board. Central were seven for three when he was joined by his captain Glen Sulzberger.Smith and Sulzberger put on 175 for the fourth wicket in 181 minutes before Sulzberger was out shortly before 1pm today for 52. He had been 48 not out overnight.Richard King joined Smith in a fifth-wicket partnership of 88 in 111 minutes and had put on 66 in 61 minutes with Bevan Griggs before the declaration. King made 28, Griggs was left 23 not out and all of the Central wickets today fell to Warren Wisneski who had 4-95.Canterbury’s progress towards stumps, armed with that 92-run lead, was indecisive. They lost the valuable wickets of Jarrod Englefield, Shanan Stewart, Michael Papps and Gary Stead and were left with Chris Harris and Aaron Redmond at the wicket, still in the early stages of their innings.Englefield fell lbw to Brent Hefford for three, Stewart was caught by Griggs off Andrew Schwass for 38, Papps edged a catch to Sulzberger off Tim Anderson and part-timer David Kelly claimed his second first-class wicket when he trapped Stead lbw. Kelly took his first first-class wicket in Canterbury’s first innings.

Manicaland needed a total of just 30 overs to destroy MacDonald Club of Bulawayo by ten wickets last Sunday at Alexandra Club, Harare. Andy Flower was available but was rested by Manicaland after recently arriving home from Zimbabwe’s campaign in Sri Lanka. Batting first, Mac Club managed only 63 in 23.5 overs with Andre Soma taking three for 14, Richie Sims three for 7 and Justin Lewis three for 13. Alistair Campbell demoted himself to number 11 to watch Taffy Madondo (36) and Neil Ferreira (12) finish the job in six overs.Manicaland are back on top of the log and with two to play seem certain to win their first league title. This carries prize money in the region of Z$500 000 (US $1500). They are already guaranteed a top-four place that puts them into a separate knockout competition that carries further prize money.Andy Flower plays his first home game in Mutare on 3 February prior to departure with the national team to India a week later. Former Test stars Campbell and Whittall also play in the season-closer in Mutare against high-riders Takashinga (formerly Winstonians). Campbell will know by then if his Test career is definitely over, having recently flayed Gauteng B with big centuries in Zimbabwe B’s eight-wicket win in Kwekwe. If he isn’t on the plane and the selectors still claim he has been dropped for cricket reasons, he will know all he needs to know. Another Manica to flourish in that game was Richie Sims, whose 88 will surely be the start of big things.The second team continued their losing streak at Mutare Sports Club on the same day. Set a gettable 217 by under-strength Alex II, they fell 36 short in a puzzling display of nerves. For the Harare visitors Quibich Nkala top-scored with 63 whilst captain Dave Tones (30) and Callum McCormick (39) added useful runs. Manicaland II bowled without discipline to give their opponents a total of six extra overs through 28 wides and 9 no-balls. Only captain Dion Yatras (two for 3), who brought himself on in a late spell of desperation, bowled with any purpose. When Tino Mawoyo lost his stumps first ball he started a slide only briefly halted by a battling 36 from Keegan Taylor. For the visitors Anthony van Greunen took four for 33, Mluleki Nkala three for 41 and Tones two for 31.The second team is determined not to embarrass the sponsors by winning the league (no club can have two teams in the first league). They should have cruised their last two games to win the league – meaning the runners-up would have had to be promoted above them into next season’s first league. To compound their problems, in an administrative oversight they failed to select ex-Zimbabwe Under-19 player Jan Oosterhuisen who reportedly arrived at the ground expecting to play. First-team captain Neil Ferreira does not intend to repeat the mistake and has already drafted Oosterhuisen into the Logan Cup squad for next month’s four-day first-class fixture.

Somerset County Cricket Club have decided to switch the three-day friendly match against Cardiff UCCE which starts on Saturday April 13th to Millfield School at Street.One of the main reasons behind the fixture switch is that the that the whole squad can travel to the match at Millfield School and those who are not selected to play can enjoy the excellent outdoor and indoor practice facilities that the school possesses.Meanwhile back at The County Ground in Taunton, Somerset Head Groundsman Phil Frost told me: “It’s all looking good for the start of the new season, and we are just waiting to kick off with our preparations. The grass is a bit dormant, especially on the table where it is a different colour.”We have sprayed for diseases and will start to work on the ground in mid-February.”