Umpiring Controversy Rages On
Fri, Dec 2, '05
(In The Papers Today: ICC chief Malcolm Speed reacts to
the outrage over the quality of international umpires; Colin Croft
and Tony Becca offer post-series analysis; Jimmy Adams to captain a
WIPA Masters team...)
The controversy over the quality of international umpires has taken a logical twist with ICC boss Malcolm Speed announcing that the so-called "elite" panel will be expanded next year.
"Next year when we sit down to make the appointments of the elite panel, I think we will increase the number from seven to in between eight to 10," Speed said.
"We all recognise that cricket is the hardest of all games to umpire. What we are seeking is that the best umpires stand in Test cricket," Speed said.
"What it means for an international umpire on the panel is that he will do something like 10-12 Test matches and 20-odd one-day internationals a year, and I think that's a reasonable workload for fully professional umpires who are working full time," he added.
In the Jamaica Gleaner, veteran West Indies cricket writer Tony Becca offers an analysis of Windies/Australia Test series and notes that mistakes by umpires have been part of the history of cricket.
In fact, Becca argued, the West Indies have been on the short end of the stick for a very long time but it never mattered because the Caribbean side was winning games by very wide margins.
Despite the umpiring, Becca point out that the Australians were "simply better" than the West Indies. "The West Indies were soundly beaten by Australia - no doubt about that. To their credit, however, there were times when they played well - when they surprised all and sundry and gave West Indian fans some hope."
Colin Croft's post-series analysis for BBC Sport compared the enthusiasm from the third-string side that toured Sri Lanka to the squad in Australia that "seemed uninspired."
"The captain, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, looked totally out of his depth, seemingly at a complete loss as to what to do next for strategy and cohesiveness," Croft wrote, noting that with such pressure, Chanderpaul's batting suffered badly.
Croft also had a few choice words for the West Indies vice-captain: "Ramnaresh Sarwan seemed to have more ambition than cricketing sense, certainly not playing to his own limitations.
The Trinidad Guardian and Newsday newspapers in the twin-island republic are carrying reports on the T&T Cricket Board (T&TCB) being the biggest recipient of funding from the government.
Deryck Murray's board received $591,540 to assist with the national senior cricket team's preparation for the 2005/2006 Carib Beer-sponsored first class tournament and to assist with further developmental programmes.
Some of the money will also help the T&T Under-13 team for their upcoming tour of Barbados, starting next week in Bridgetown.
Deryck Murray is also featured in a CMC piece where he called for more training for umpires at local, regional and international levels.
"If those so called elite umpires are not up to standard, they should be dropped out and new people introduced," Murray said during a speech at a function in T&T.
CMC also reports that T&T under-19 left-arm unorthodox spinner Dane Teelucksingh was named Youth Cricketer-of-the-Year while Ian Ragoonanan captured the Cricketer-of-the-Year title.
According to a press release from the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), former West Indies skipper Jimmy Adams will lead a team of ex-Test players in a Twenty/20 cricket tournament in Miami, USA this weekend.
FULL SQUAD: Jimmy Adams (capt), Nehemiah Perry, Sherwin Campbell, Carlisle Best, Vasbert Drakes, Henderson Bryan, Milton Small, Colin Croft, Kenneth Benjamin, Ridley Jacobs, Stuart Williams, Rajindra Dhanraj and Keith Arthurton.
The tournament is being played this Sunday, December 4th at the Brian Piccolo Park in Florida.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 announced that the men whose calculations have revolutionised rain-affected One-Day Internationals (ODIs) will be the feature presenters at its Cricket Operations Forum II.
Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis - architects of the famed Duckworth/Lewis system - will conduct an in-depth seminar on their method of determining target scores in rain-shortened ODIs. The Forum is scheduled for Antigua from January 21-24, 2006.
World Cup 2007 Cricket Operations Director Michael Hall said the visit will give key officials a unique opportunity to learn from and ask any questions of Messrs. Duckworth and Lewis.