ALL HAIL

THE WEST INDIES

Is this the beginning of something good?

And now, I lime!

A sick joke!

The problem with this particular referral, or review, or whatever it is known as, is that there was clear daylight between bat and ball. Daryl Harper, the third umpire upstairs, doesn't have the benefit of Hawkeye or Hotspot ... but he didn't need them, so conclusive the evidence appeared to be. Oh well - nothing like a bit of drama to spice things up. And West Indies, for all this latest technological confusion, have a seriously tasty lead of 74.
157.4	Harmison to Powell, OUT, a bouncer down the leg side which Powell tries to hook, and Prior gathers it smartly to his left. Up goes the finger of Tony Hill but, predictably, Powell's called for a referral! Replays suggest he didn't make contact, quite conclusive from our eyes - but the third umpire has adjudicated that he did hit the ball, and Hill's finger goes up for a second time. Well, I'm afraid this is a bit of a farcical way to end the innings
	DBL Powell c Prior b Harmison 9 (23b 0x4 0x6) SR: 39.13

Elite Panel? 98% decisions right? Really?

Reasons for concern?

Or how the "Cricinfo staff" insult my intelligence, again!

A cursory glance at the two scorecards (South v North and East v West) shows that it was the West Zone that took 20 wickets to win the match. And the distribution of wickets amongst the West Zone bowlers was more even than the South Zone. And the West achieved its win in 3 days ( as opposed to the 4 the South Zone took to register their win), And the West achieved this despite dropping catches and missing stumpings.

And granted that the South has more established names and appears the better batting side on paper, but it is bowling that wins Championships and on that front, the West are well in front. And let us not forget that the top three run getters from the Ranji Super League play for the West.

And if two players returning from injury and with no match fitness in the lead up buoys the South, more power to them!

Day 1 - West Zone 303/5 Rahane 109*

West were threatening to run away with the game when Sreesanth helped bring South back with his late strikes. The other consolation for South is that West have a pretty long tail: Dhawal Kulkarni, their original No. 8, has a highest first-class score of 26.

Day 2 - West Zone 459 Rahane 165 South Zone 106/4

Badrinath meted out punishment to Pawar, slamming him for three sixes in a 22-run over, and looked in good nick until stumps. But a moment's hesitation yielded another wicket shortly before the close. Badrinath pulled a short delivery from Powar to short leg, the ball deflected to short midwicket, and a moment of hesitation resulted in M Suresh being run out at the non-strikers end. Badrinath raised his half-century in the next over and really needs to settle in if South aim to get out of this jam.

Day 3 - West Zone 459 and 232/4 South Zone 199

The difference between the two sides was in the partnerships - West had four in excess of fifty in their first innings, while South had none. The highest South could manage was 43- for the second and eighth wickets - leaving a lot of responsibility on their captain. Support from the other end wasn't forthcoming though, and South's batsmen will need to rectify that shortcoming in order to prevent West from claiming the trophy.

Day 4 - West Zone 459 and 417/8 decl South Zone 199 and 232/3

South's opening partnership reached 165 before Vijay edged Powar to Patel. An over later, Powar induced another edge to get rid of Uthappa, who had made 94 off 98 balls, before bowling Rahul Dravid for a duck with one that kept low. South had lost three wickets for two runs but the slide was arrested by S Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik who added 65 for the fourth wicket. Their job has barely begun if they are to save the match.

Day 5 Lunch - South Zone 369/6 chasing 678 to win

West Zone inched closer to the title on the fifth morning when they claimed three South Zone wickets, leaving them at 369 for 6. South added 137 to their overnight score but unfortunately, all their specialist batsmen are back in the pavilion.

Day 5 - West Zone 459 and 417/8 beat South Zone 199 and 403

Wasim Jaffer, West's captain, rounded off a glorious season, having lifted the Ranji Trophy as well for Mumbai. This is West's 17th Duleep Trophy title.

A clinic

24/2 in 4 overs with Sachin gone - No problem.
Two set batsmen falling within 20 runs of each other in the space of 3 overs - No problem.
67 run partnership in 10 overs between the opposition captin and vice captain - No problem.

The margin of victory is incidental. The manner of victory,emphatic. How emphatic? One set of numbers tells the story

BAW Mendis

9

0

64

1

7.11

The template is set

Take Australia's batting template from the 2007 World Cup and Sri Lanka's bowling stratgey from the 1996 World Cup and we are seeing India's strategy for the Sri Lankan series.

The Haddin incident

and Kartikeya's take on it.

Worth a read.

And here is Achettup

and here is the video of the incident

6 minutes to go

5 overs to be bowled.

Did someone say over-rates and Spirit of the game?

PS:- 28 minutes over time. In an ODI. Good show!

Aussie Cheats

Getting the gloves in front of the stumps and then breaking the stumps before the ball makes contact with the stumps leads to

35.2	Clarke to Broom, OUT, Australia claw back, Clarke gets it to skid through on a good length, Broom makes a lot of room to cut but he's beaten for pace, the ball just clips the top of the off bail
	NT Broom b Clarke 29 (52m 50b 2x4 0x6) SR: 58.00

Nice!

PS:- The umpires for the match are Steve Bucknor and Bruce Oxenford, the on field and third umpires from the Sydney Test of 2008. Could controversy be far behind?

PPS:-

• Law 30: Bowled. A batsman is out if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler. It is irrelevant whether the ball has touched the bat, glove, or any part of the batsman before going on to put down the wicket, though it may not touch another player or an umpire before doing so.

• Law 40.3. Position of wicket-keeper
  The wicket-keeper shall remain wholly behind the wicket at the striker's end from the moment the ball comes into play until
  (a) a ball delivered by the bowler
  either (i) touches the bat or person of the striker
  or (ii) passes the wicket at the striker's end

  or (b) the striker attempts a run.

  In the event of the wicket-keeper contravening this Law, the umpire at the striker's end shall call and signal No ball as soon as possible after the delivery of the ball.

Can you do that?

12.6	Bracken to Taylor, no run, pitched up and seaming with the angle, Taylor shoulders arms
Really suffocating stuff from the Australian bowlers. Seven men on the off side.
12.5	Bracken to Taylor, no run, again its pitched up around off stump and he pushes it to cover

Remember the furor following India employing an 8-1 field in a Test match? There were calls for changing the rules, the existence and longevity of Test cricket were called into question,the tactics were called 'diabolical'.

And all this in a test match.

So, how justified is Ricky Ponting in employing a 7-2 field in and ODI? Should the rules of the game be changed to prevent such "malpractice" ? And are the tactics "diabolical"?

Or will Ponting be hailed as a tactical genius if his team successfully defends the 181 they have set the Kiwis?