New cricket stadium in HP dedicated to Vajpayee

Hamirpur (HP), Dec 25 (PTI) Keeping in mind former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's concern for development of Himachal Pradesh, a newly built cricket stadium was today dedicated in his name in Hamirpur district.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal inaugurated the new stadium named after Vajpayee on his birthday today, saying the former PM had a soft-corner for the hill state and had approved many developmental projects for it.

The stadium was built by Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) at Nadaun at a cost of Rs five crore.

It has been completed in a record time of eight months and is in the series of 12 cricket stadiums, one each in all 12 districts of the state, Anurag Thakur, who heads HPCA, said on the occasion.

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Man killed after fight on cricket field

BANGALORE: Ashok Gowda (27), a data analyst in a private company, was allegedly stabbed after a fight picked up while playing cricket at Peenya on Sunday evening. Ashok was rushed to Ravi Kirloskar Hospital, where he succumbed to injuries.

Police said that on Sunday evening, Ashok, son of Thimaiah Gowda, had gone with his friends to play cricket in a ground on SRS Road at Sharavathinagar.

Ashok allegedly picked up a squabble with a few youths. After the fight, when Ashok was heading home, four men on bikes gheraoed him suddenly and stabbed him with a knife around 6 pm, before escaping.

Ashok succumbed to injuries at the hospital at around 8.30 pm.
His friends and relatives turned into an angry mob and started pelting stones at the hospital and at the doctors. The police later rushed to the spot and controlled the mob. A case has been registered with the RMC Yard police, who are looking for the accused.

FIRE CLAIMS ONE

A 14-year-old girl was charred to death in an accidental fire, while having her bath on Sunday morning.

The victim Hakira Bhanu, was an VIIIth standard student of a school in RT Nagar. Her parents Syed Amir and Mubina are coolie workers. They had gone for work leaving their three daughters at home, when the accident occured.

Police said the stove used toheat water was close to the bathroom and due to the spilling of oil, the clothes placed nearby caught fire. Hakira’s sisters Lekha Banu (17) and Sophiya (6), called out to her, but she refused to step out without getting dressed. By the time, the girls managed to bring in help from their neighbours, Hakira died.
Her sisters did not suffer any injuries.

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Cricket - Highlights of the past 10 years

REUTERS - Factbox on highlights from the past 10 years of world cricket selected by Reuters sports correspondent John Mehaffey:

Player of the decade:

By the end of the decade, Sachin Tendulkar had scored a scarcely credible 88 international centuries (43 in tests and 45 in ODIs) and was still going strong after 20 years at the top.

Beautifully balanced, with a complete range of shots, the 36-year-old Indian succeeded in all conditions against all opposition. He reserved some of his finest performances for Australia, consistently the world's strongest side for the past 15 years.

Defining moment:

On Feb. 20, 2008, eight Indian city-based franchises bid a total of $20 million for players to take part in the new Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni attracted the highest bid, emerging richer by $1.5 million before a ball had been bowled.

Cricket compressed into three hours has since become immensely popular with players and spectators alike. The pressing problem now for the game's authorities, who neither organised nor control the IPL, is the precipitous decline in attendances for five-day tests outside grounds in England and Australia.

Match of the decade:

England travelled to the Oval in September 2005, needing a draw to seize the Ashes back from Australia after 16 fruitless years in a series unanimously acclaimed as the greatest ever.

Shane Warne threatened to win the match single-handed for Australia with the sheer power of his personality before a century of breathtaking audacity by Kevin Pietersen saved the day for the home side.

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Bulls chasing Big Benn

World cricket's latest bad boy Sulieman Benn could be stirring up crowds across Australia if Queensland's last-minute bid to recruit the West Indian for the Twenty20 Big Bash comes off.

A source confirmed on Sunday that the Bulls were keen to sign the big left-arm spinner for the domestic tournament which starts with Queensland's clash against Victoria at the Gabba on December 28.

"We're talking to a number of players, including a player from the subcontinent," the source said.

"But we can confirm inquiries have been made with Sulieman Benn's Australian management over the weekend.

"The deadline is this Thursday so we hope to have something finalised in the next day or two."

Benn was banned for two one-day international matches after clashing with Australian players Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson during the third Test in Perth, which Australia won on Sunday.

The 200cm Barbadian took 11 wickets at 37.09 in the three-Test series including a 5-155 in Adelaide.

Benn, 28, would link up with Australian cricket's bad boy Andrew Symonds, who is no longer a national squad member but is playing T20 for the Bulls this summer.

Johnson (Western Australia) and Haddin (NSW) are likely to miss the Big Bash series and a chance to take on Benn as they'll be playing in Test and one-day series against Pakistan.

Australia will host a five-match series of one-dayers against the Windies in February.

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The Edge: how a world Test championship could work

The Sunday Times Cricket Correspondent suggests a way of hosting cricket's 'majors', questions Strauss's decision to bowl and lists the South Africa players with Dutch or French names

A world Test championship final could be staged in England in 2011, according to Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, who attended the opening of the South Africa-England series in Centurion.

The idea of a world championship final has been around for some time and the ICC recently gave the issue fresh impetus by setting up a working party headed by David Richardson, its general manager, to look into the best means of establishing one.

It appears, though, that the leading nations are in broad agreement that Test cricket needs a focal point and that a showpiece game, with the jostling for qualifying places near the top of the Test rankings, could provide just that. At about the same time as Lorgat was speaking in Centurion, the ICC president David Morgan was saying in London that there could be “real progress soon” on a “climax” to a world Test championship.

Lorgat says that the ICC’s aim is to attract more third-party interest to Tests. At the moment, most Test matches are followed closely only by die-hard fans and those who support the two teams involved. Lorgat believes that if places in a championship semi-final or final were up for grabs, cricket fans would be drawn into watching any game that might affect their team’s chances.

The original hope was that a biennial championship final might be introduced with the new Future Tours Programme which starts in 2012. However with Lord’s having been identified as the obvious choice to stage an inaugural final because of its status as the “home of cricket” and its excellent record of selling tickets, 2012 is a non-starter due to London’s staging of the Olympic Games.

The following year, 2013, is an Ashes summer in England, so thoughts have moved to bringing the proposed championship final forward - provided, of course, that an acceptable plan can be put before the ICC’s annual meeting next June.

The Edge’s main quibble with this idea is that it would place the climax to a world Test championship in the same year as the 50-overs World Cup. If a world Test championship and the two limited-overs World Cups - spanning 20 overs and 50 overs - are to flourish independently of each other, each event must be held in a separate year - and held every three years, so that every year sees one of cricket’s three “majors” being held.

One of the chief tasks facing Richardson’s committee is deciding how a knockout match such as a semi-final or final would be resolved in the event of a draw. First-innings lead is one option being considered. But Lorgat believes that modern teams are conditioned to going for the win and that given good weather draws would be rare.

Getting the call wrong

Was Andrew Strauss misled by the extravagant green appearance of the pitch 24 hours before the first Test in South Africa? It was certainly a striking colour and generated much media debate about what sort of attacks the teams might select. Strauss urged caution, warning that it was dangerous to read too much into pitches the day before a game, but his ultimate decision to bowl first - even though the pitch had taken on a much paler hue - was nevertheless striking.

It was the first time in 11 won tosses as Test captain that Strauss had opted not to bat and Graeme Smith did say - admittedly, maybe he had to say this - that South Africa would have batted first had they had the choice.

Perhaps it was a 50-50 decision and Strauss was going to be damned either way. But bowling first did appear to run contrary to his justification a few days ago for picking six batsmen and only four bowlers, which was that four bowlers could be enough if your six batsmen can create “scoreboard pressure”. Surely, then, bat first and bat big.

His decision with the toss didn’t back up the strategy he had espoused.

It was also a risky course of action given that his three fast bowlers were so obviously ring-rusty. James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graham Onions have all had fitness issues on this tour and all have been short of their best form with the red ball.

They were inevitably going to be feeling their way into the series, probably more so than the batsmen. Better, surely, to take advantage of South Africa’s inconvenience in being without Dale Steyn or Jacques Kallis’s bowling.

Broad was chronically lacking in rhythm in the warm-up matches and Anderson is on an increasingly desperate search for a first Test wicket since he had Shane Watson caught behind three Test matches ago. He went wicketless in the Leeds and Oval Tests and his desperation was apparent during 23 fruitless overs at Centurion.

When Strauss asked Anderson whether he wanted to ask for a review of his rejected lbw appeal against Jacques Kallis it was pretty obvious Anderson was going to say, “Yes please, skip.” But the replays suggested the ball had hit the pad outside the line of the stumps and hit bat at the same time as pad. To get a decision overturned the evidence has got to be overwhelming and if Anderson had been in a better vein of form he might have reasoned that.

Time will tell if Strauss made the right choice but after opting to bowl he would have been looking for more than four wickets in the day. Michael Vaughan put in the opposition eight times in Tests and never lost. The last England captain to lose after doing so was Nasser Hussain with his infamous bloomer at Brisbane in 2002.

All part of the plan

Graeme Smith’s dismissal - for his second Test duck in a row against England - aroused debate as to whether Stuart Broad was working to a plan. Did the England camp think Smith was perhaps susceptible to feathering a leg-side catch to the keeper? The clip off the hip is certainly one of his favourite scoring options but research suggested that although Smith has been caught behind off fast bowlers in international cricket around 40 times, this might be the first time it had happened down the leg side.

Where are you, fair maiden?

Another extraordinary bat-fest was seen in Jaipur this week, with India and Sri Lanka running up 825 runs between them in 100 overs. Curiously, both captains afterwards chided their batsmen for having not made as many runs as they felt they should have done. But spare a thought for the 13 bowlers, not one of whom managed a maiden. Some people have made a career-long habit of this, including Graeme Smith himself, none of whose 171 overs of part-time off-spin in ODIs has gone scoreless.

THE LIST: SOUTH AFRICA CRICKETERS WITH DUTCH OR FRENCH NAMES

1. Edward van der Merwe (1929)

2. Pieter van der Bijl (1938)

3. Clive van Ryneveld (1951)

4. Peter van der Merwe (1963)

5. John du Preez (1967)

6. Fanie de Villiers (1993)

7. Martin van Jaarsveld (2002)

8. Zander de Bruyn (2004)

9. AB de Villiers (2004)

10. Friedel de Wet (2009)

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The spinner who saved the day for 'Jim' Swanton

The adventures of two public schoolboys from generations apart are recalled as England and South Africa prepare to lock horns

W ith England's fresh Test series beginning this very morning, I found myself contemplating two wholly disparate English public schoolboys from generations wide apart but each with aptly germane connections with both Africa and cricket – namely the unlikely duo of 57-year-old Old Etonian mercenary Simon "Lucky" Mann, preparing to enjoy a Christmas at home in Hampshire after his recent pardon from a 35-year jail sentence in Equatorial Guinea, and the late EW "Jim" Swanton, emeritus sportswriter, Old Cranleighan and 10 years dead next month.

Today as Jonathan Agnew's Test Match Special gang welcome us to the series' opening overs I'll nod fond remembrance to trailblazer Swanton who, 71 Decembers ago, was the first broadcaster ever to send a live cricket commentary back to an English winter. Swanton was 31, a rather pompous penny-a-line freelancer specialising in public schools' rugby and cricket. That autumn he had persuaded a hesitant BBC to pay him £126 for 20 live broadcasts of the final half-hour's play in the South African Tests; on the strength of a further £60 promised for a string of features for the Evening Standard and the Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News, he had paid his own return fare of £82.16s on the Balmoral Castle.

The first Test began in Johannesburg on Christmas Eve 1938. Action during that first closing-overs stint was laboriously dire – England's Paul Gibb and Eddie Paynter batting for the morrow with utterly tedious circumspection. Swanton finished his commentary in a fury of despair and insecurity. Reaction from London was cruelly silent. On the second day (Boxing Day), the last half-hour began dolefully much the same, this time with South Africa's batsmen totally passive against Hedley Verity. Poor Swanton imagined English listeners by the thousands falling asleep over the yule log at his dreary descriptions. Then suddenly, 10 minutes before the close, the off-spinner Tom Goddard took a wicket – Nourse c & b – then, very next ball, another; followed at once by another, the nightwatchman. Good ol' Tom's hat-trick had woken up all England. "Gloucester's spinner had saved me," remembered Swanton – "and back in the Carlton Hotel a wire awaited me from the BBC: "Hearty congratulations. Everybody delighted. Triumphant commentaries."

The next England tour to South Africa was 10 southern summers and a whole world war later, by which time Swanton (after a harrowing war as a prisoner of the Japanese) had assumed his life's vocation as cardinal cricket eminence at the Daily Telegraph. By nice coincidence the first Test match of the 1948-49 series (to be won famously at Durban by Cliff Gladwin's last ball leg-by), like this week's, began on 16 December. Swanton later reckoned England's captain on that trip, Middlesex's Old Etonian George Mann (scion of the London brewing family) was "possibly England's best of any touring captain of my time".

Mann averaged 36 in the five Tests, scoring a century at Port Elizabeth as England won the series 2-0. It would be two years before Mrs Mann gave birth to their son and heir: they called him Simon. When England played Rhodesia at Bulawayo in January 1949 (George made a first ball duck) little could pater-to-be have foretold that almost three score years on his son would be arrested at the airport there and so, to all intents, terminate his own great overseas adventure.

George Mann was basically a lusty mid-order hitter – as was his own father Frank, Middlesex's Old Malvernian who, 27 years earlier, had also led England in South Africa. In his five Tests, Frank averaged 35 (highest score of 84) as England won the series 2-1. No Rhodesia diversions then.

Next Monday is the 121st anniversary of England's inaugural Test against South Africa, Port Elizabeth, 1888: captain, C Aubrey Smith (Charterhouse, Sussex and, later, Hollywood films). Smith was injured, so for the only other Test at Cape Town the amateur from Dulwich College, Monty Bowden, deputised. At 23, he remains England's youngest captain. He had made a duck in the first Test, now 25 in the second.

Monty stayed on at the end of the tour, dazzled by the gold rush. He went to Rhodesia with (Cecil, not Wilfred) Rhodes's Pioneer Column, then fell on hard times and was apparently smuggling liquor in February 1892 when he fell heavily from his cart and died at Umtali Hospital, a primitive first-aid station of mud huts. A friend with a revolver stood guard over the body to keep lions away before poor Monty could be buried in a coffin knocked together from whisky cases – a far stickier, and certainly more terminally conclusive, end than even Simon Mann thought he was facing well over a century later.

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Spammers using cricket test news to target Australian email users

MessageLabs Intelligence from Symantec Hosted Services has detected an email scam in circulation targeting Australian businesses, claiming to contain information about the Australia and West Indies test cricket.

The subject line boasts the title "Gayle ton keeps Australia at bay" however the spam itself bears no relation to the cricket besides the subject line. Instead it contains information relating to another Canadian pharmacy scam leading to the Canadian pharmacy website.

This format of mail has been prevalent throughout 2009 with spammers changing the subject line to reflect newsworthy or sensational subjects, bearing no relation to email content.

According to Andrew Antal, Senior Director Marketing APJ, Symantec Hosted Services, "Spammers have long been taking news clippings and headlines from websites. However this recent scam suggests that spammers may be automatically gathering news headlines and pumping them into their next spam run, within hours of the news headline breaking. Either way, it demonstrates that they are running a slick operation, no sooner does news break than it is in the spam messages."

With the third test starting today, Symantec Hosted Services would like to warn Australian email users about similar scams and subject lines.

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'Decision Review System good for cricket'

A few players' resentment and concerns about dilution of authority of on-field officials notwithstanding, the Decision Review System is a "positive" innovation which has helped cut down umpiring errors, feel the cricketers Associations of South Africa and New Zealand.

"SACA and the general feeling of South African players towards the DRS is that it is positive for cricket provided that all the technology is made available and standardised for all matches. Technology in cricket is inevitable and it should be used as long as it is trusted and accurate," South African Cricket Association (SACA) CEO Tony Irish said.

New Zealand Cricket Players' Association (NZCPA) CEO Heath Mills also gave a thumbs up to the DRS and said the initial problems will fade away once the system's usage becomes more frequent.

"I can only go on our experience in the current series against Pakistan. I have had nothing but positive feedback from our players. Daniel Vettori thinks it is very good and feels it has ensured that better decisions are being made out in the middle on a more consistent basis," Mills said.

"There will always be odd teething problem with something new but we feel it has gone well so far and is certainly worth continuing at the moment," he added.

Asked if DRS will slow down Test matches which are already faced with dwindling spectator interest, Irish said, "It does have the effect of taking extra time but I think its just a matter of getting used to it and it will become quicker and an accepted part of the game.

DRS raised quite a furore after it was used in the ongoing Australia-West Indies Test series Down Under with skipper of the Caribbean side Chris Gayle and former umpire Dickie Bird criticising the technology.

Gayle went to the extent of saying that DRS "doesn't make any sense" to him.

However, Mills is of the view that DRS will not only ensure better decisions but will also add to spectator excitement.

"I think we now see the umpires working in a team of three and making better decisions collectively. The very good umpires who are confident and get most decisions right should have no worries," Mills said, when asked if DRS would undermine the umpire's role.

"Maybe those umpires who get decisions wrong may not like it but isn't that why it has been introduced? If we are getting better decisions isn't that what we are after?"

"I also think from a fan point of view it adds more excitement to the event so I don't think there are any issues with time delays. It probably adds to the atmosphere.

"The umpires should be heavily involved in DRS and any subtle changes that need to made they should take ownership of it then they will buy into it more," he added.

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Umpire Benson blasts retirement claim insisting ill health led to walk-out

English umpire Mark Benson yesterday said he was not planning to retire from international cricket and dismissed reports that he had walked out of a Test match last week after a disagreement over the controversial referral system as "unfounded and totally untrue."

Benson had reportedly been ready to quit the game after standing down from his duties during the second Test between Australia and West Indies in Adelaide over the weekend amid growing dissatisfaction with the implementation of the umpire decision review system.

The 51-year-old returned home on Sunday night citing ill health as the reason for his departure and confirmed yesterday that he is undergoing medical tests for an unspecified ailment.

"I would like to clarify that I have not resigned as an elite panel umpire," said Benson in a statement issued through the International Cricket Council, his employers. "I had withdrawn after the first day's play as I felt that -- due to my general health -- I was not up to the task and it was in the best interests of the game, the ICC and myself that I step down."

On the pitch, Australia were left in the embarrassing position of having to hold out for out for a draw against yesterday.

The West Indies had Ricky Ponting's side on the back foot, but were unable to press home their advantage as Australia, chasing 330 for victory and unlikely win, reached 212 for five when stumps were drawn.

Dwayne Bravo led the West Indies' victory charge, the all-rounder taking 3 for 37. The hosts lost two quick wickets after tea and from that point were under siege, with the West Indies captain, Chris Gayle, surrounding the batsmen with close-in fielders while the side's medium pacers were in action.

But Michael Clarke (61 not out) and Brad Haddin (21no) shared in an anxious but unbeaten 73-run partnership and importantly occupied the crease for 85 minutes to guide Australia to safety.

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Umpire Benson heading for retirement

Mark Benson is planning to retire from umpiring with immediate effect following his sudden withdrawal from the Adelaide Test. The Sunday Times has reported Benson was upset over several incidents involving the Umpire Decision Review System on day one of the second Test between Australia and West Indies, one of which led to his original decision being overturned.

Benson twice ruled Shivnarine Chanderpaul not-out to caught-behind appeals on Friday, both of which were challenged by the Australians. The third umpire, Asad Rauf, upheld Benson's first ruling, prompting an angry response from the bowler, Doug Bollinger, and the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting. But it is the second video review, which resulted in Chanderpaul being ruled out for 62, that is understood to have most upset the English official. Hot Spot replays showed no evidence of the ball striking the outside edge of Chanderpaul's bat, however other camera angles provided Rauf with enough evidence to reverse Benson's original ruling.

Cricinfo has been told an irate Benson "ranted" to colleagues in the umpire's room after the first day's play about his dissatisfaction with the UDRS. He is believed to have said at the time that the new system "just makes (umpiring) harder", however ICC officials were remaining tight-lipped on the matter on Sunday.

David Morgan, the ICC president, told Cricinfo Benson was "poorly" and referred other questions to David Richardson, the ICC's general manager, and Vintcent van der Bijl, the umpire's manager. Chris Broad, the match referee who is presiding over the Adelaide Test, denied Benson's swift departure from Adelaide was the result of unhappiness over the UDRS. "There is absolutely no truth in that at all," Broad said. "The review system is new to everyone and you've got to get used to it. He was an advocate of the review system to help umpires out.

"We spoke on the second morning and he said that he was feeling unwell. I was in India with him as well where he was unwell. We thought this might well be another situation like that we were in in India. We chatted about it and he said he didn't feel as though he could go on the field again. We decided to leave him back in the hotel. I phoned Dubai and they decided that if it was a recurrence of high blood pressure or stomach problems he had in India he needed to get it sorted out. That was the reason that I was aware he went home."

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat also denied Benson's return to England was related to the UDRS. "This is completely untrue. Benson has been a strong supporter of the system and his return home has nothing to do with it," he told PTI. ""He is not well and that's why he is returning home. I'm sure once he reached England, he would issue a clarification."

ICC sources have told Cricinfo, however, that The Sunday Times report is indeed accurate, and an announcement from Benson is expected after his arrival into Britain. Precisely why Benson opted to leave Adelaide before the conclusion of the second Test remains unknown.

Benson stood down from two one-day internationals involving Australia and India this year due to migraines, and previously experienced heart palpitations during a Test between South Africa and India in Durban. It is understood he did not visit a hospital in Adelaide before his departure on Saturday, despite "ill health" being cited by the ICC as the cause for his departure.

Controversy has always followed umpires, but scrutiny has escalated of late. Darrell Hair resorted to legal avenues after he was sidelined by the ICC for his role in the forfeited Test at The Oval between England and Pakistan two years ago, while Steve Bucknor was benched for the latter stages of the Australia-India Test series two summers ago after the BCCI complained of errors.

"There's probably less pressure on the umpires now with a review system than there was beforehand," Broad said. "Umpires would stand out there in the morning and captains and fielders would strut around not really knowing the result of it. With the review system they know the result straight away."

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'Woo kids and families for Test cricket'

MUMBAI: Test cricket is to return to the Brabourne Stadium for the first time since 1973 when Sri Lanka play India in December.

It was this befitting that the Legends Club meeting discussed the future of Test cricket in the presence of the club president Badal Mittal, and panellists Nari Contractor, Ratnakar Shetty and Ayaz Memon, the discussion being moderated by Milind Rege. The general opinion was that Test cricket would survive but one of the other two formats, 50 overs, might give in to T20.

The following points emerged:

Contractor said sustenance of interest for Test cricket would depend on the individuals. No one would forget the Bradman-Gavaskar deeds. Bapu Nadkarni reeling 29 maiden overs in a row was a sight that was equally enjoyed by people. The future of Test cricket could be varied:four days, two and a half days, day-night, limited-overs.

Shetty said the youth had to be wooed to watch Test cricket. Seats should be reserved for schoolkids, subsidised rates should be there for Tests. The likes of Sehwag had reinvented Test cricket. The trend would continue. He agreed with the view that Indian Test grounds were not as family-friendly as those abroad and the Test centres had taken the playing public for granted where facilities were concerned.

Ayaz Memon said the changing ethos had to be considered where Test cricket is concerned the eco-social aspect also. Watching cricket had to be affordable. It was going in the opposite direction.

The next Legends Club meeting, which is usually on the birth anniversaries of the three Vs--Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare and Vinoo Mankad-- will be on December 19, the birth anniversary of Raj Singh Dungarpur, the popular ex-president of CCI who passed away.

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PCB wants Asif to play in Dubai, seeks ICC assistance

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is trying hard to help tainted fast bowler Mohammad Asifobtain clearance from the Dubai authorities to

enable him to play in the One-day series against New Zealand next month.

PCB chief Ijaz Butt said that the board has also approached ICC to ask the authorities to allow Asif to play in Dubai and Abu Dhabi during the series starting November 3. "We have sought ICC's assistance in this matter," the Daily Times quoted Butt, as saying.

Asif was banned from entering the United States of Emirates (UAE) after he was detained for 19 days at the Dubai International Airport last year for possessing a banned substance.

The PCB had also slapped a fine of one million rupees on Asif for his Dubai ‘misadventure'.

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"Technology should improve quality"

ICC Elite Panel umpire Simon Taufel said technology should be used to improve the standard of match officials.
These comments come ahead of the introduction of Umpire Decision Referral System in Test cricket next month.

"For me technology is about balance in the game and making sure we use the best of what is available but also making sure our umpiring skills are at their highest standard so we don't have to always rely on the technology provided," he said.

"We know the players want more correct decisions and we know statistically we get 95 per cent of our decisions right.

But we also know there is room for improvement and we look for how we can get better as umpires," said Taufel in an ICC release.

On his umpiring experience at the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 6 in Singapore, Taufel said, "I hope that my being in Singapore has helped the Associate and Affiliate, and the regional umpires that there is a way through in the sport to become one of the elite panel umpires and that anything is possible with hard work and determination.

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