The technical committee of the Asian Cricket Foundation which met inKolkata on Thursday, decided that the matches of the Asian TestChampionship will be supervised by neutral umpires.The last time the tournament was played two years ago, the umpireswere from the ICC. This time, the committee decided to use one umpirefrom the ICC and the other from the countries playing in thechampionship."This is being done to give more exposure to the umpires in this part of the world," said Jagmohan Dalmiya, chairman of the ACF which implements the ACC programmes.However, he informed that both the umpires would be neutral. "An India-Sri Lanka match will be conducted by an ICC umpire and one from either Pakistan or Bangladesh." The match referee will however be from the ICC.Dalmiya also said that for all the ATC matches, members of thetechnical committee will be present as observers. "In the first matchbetween India and Pakistan, Asanta de Mel will be present. In thesecond game between Pakistan and Bangladesh, Zaheer Abbas will don themantle. The India-Pakistan match will be attended by Sunil Gavaskarand Gazi Ashraf Hussain of Bangladesh.The ACF also selected three development officers to promote the game invarious parts of the continent. The three are Roger Binny (India),Iqbal Sikander (Pakistan) and Rumesh Ratanayake (Sri Lanka). However,Dalmiya added that all those who had applied for the post would beused for coaching. It should be mentioned here that from India, AshokMalhotra, WV Raman and Madanlal had applied for the post.Amongst the other decisions taken was the tie up between the ACC andthe New Zealand Sports Turf Institute to prepare grounds and wicketsin various parts of the Asia. A workshop for coaches and physicaltrainers will also be conducted. "The coaches workshop will beconducted by people from Australia," said Dalmiya. He also added thatDr. Vece Paes has been appointed by the ICC to look after the physicaltraining and the sports medicine aspect. He will also train thephysical trainers, he added.

Yorkshire beat Glamorgan by an innings and 112 runs at Scarborough today to clinch the CricInfo Championship amidst incredible scenes from the thousands of fans who had been let in free to watch the final stages of the match.And after Yorkshire had completed their ninth win of the season to give themselves an unassailable lead at the top of the Division One table the players were soon cracking open the champagne on the dressing room balcony with the ecstatic crowd spread out on the field beneath them.The historic day began with Glamorgan on 142 for six and still requiring 215 to avoid the innings defeat and the biggest threat to Yorkshire’s dream being dashed came from the weather with spots of rain falling at the start.But Steven Kirby raised a big cheer in only the second over of the morning when his fifth ball flew off the edge of Andrew Davies’ bat and into the gloves of wicketkeeper Richard Blakey.Then Kirby struck again as Dean Cosker hung out his bat and captain David Byas picked up a slow, low catch at slip to make it 162 for eight – with rain threatening again.Adrian Dale, 21 not out overnight, kept going steadily along, but Yorkshire knew the gate was open at the other end and Darren Lehmann replaced Richard Dawson to have Steve Watkin caught behind off a full-length floating delivery.There was plenty of action still to come, however, and all from last man Simon Jones who made sure Glamorgan went down with all guns blazing with a ferocious piece of hitting.Jones smashed six enormous sixes off Lehmann, nearly all of them straight drive, and a couple of fours, as he charge to 46 from just 14 balls.It could not last for long and the end came when he tried massive hit at Lehmann but sliced the ball in the air and Byas was able to run from slip to backward point to hold the catch and trigger the scenes of jubilation.”This is the success we have all been waiting for and it feels absolutely brilliant,” said Byas. “It is going to take a few weeks for it to really sink in but to win the Championship on my home ground in front of thousands of fans and to score a century and take the last catch is a dream come true.”I don’t really want to pick out any individual player because they have all performed superbly and the backroom staff have also been magnificent in helping us achieve what we set out to do.”But Australian Darren Lehmann has been superb and he has batted so well it has just been like having Don Bradman in the side.”Now I think we have the nucleus of a great team and I am sure we can go on to gain many more successes over the next few years.”

Led by a thunderous century from Thomas Odoyo, Kenya’s batsmen savaged an inexperienced Gauteng XI attack on Tuesday to set up a 224-run victory in a one-day game at the Soweto Cricket Oval on Tuesday.Odoyo thrashed an unbeaten 112 off 108 balls with five sixes and six fours as Kenya, 63 for four at one point, amassed 317 for six in their 50 overs. There were also contributions of 78 from Steve Tikolo and 43 from Martin Suji while the home team conceded a massive 47 runs in extras which included 39 wides and six no balls.The biggest culprit here was new ball bowler Shaun Andrews who picked up three early wickets in his opening burst, but also conceded 22 wides in his 10 overs as he returned figures of three for 61.The home innings was over almost as soon as it started with the last wicket falling in the 31st over as Gauteng were bowled out for 93. Collins Otieno took three for 21 with Suji taking two for 10.The Kenyans are the third team involved in the Standard Bank Summer Spice Series which begins in earnest on Friday when South Africa meet India at the Wanderers. Kenya’s first game in the tournament is on Sunday when they play South Africa in Benoni.India, meanwhile, meet South Africa A in Benoni on Wednesday in their final warm-up match.

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Otago Cricket has been forced into seeking an alternative venue for its scheduled three-day match against England in early-March.The game, which follows the One-Day International series and which will be used by the English as one of two warm-up matches before the Test series with New Zealand, was set down for Carisbrook from March 2-4.Despite the international itinerary being released several months ago, the Highlanders first home Super 12 match – against the Cats – will be played at Carisbrook on Saturday, March 2, leaving Otago Cricket in a quandary.While discussions had been going on between the Otago rugby and cricket administrations, the first OCA chief executive Graeme Elliott knew of the final decision was when the Super 12 draw was published in Saturday’s Otago Daily Times.Mr Elliott is disappointed for the cricket fans in and around Dunedin and also for the local economy.”We understand there’ll be between 5000 and 7000 supporters following the English team, and their presence in the city for a week or more would have been a great boost to the city”, Mr Elliott said.”The supporters, which include the infamous Barmy Army, will now only be here for two days – and that’s unsatisfactory”.The 2001/02 season is Otago Cricket’s 125th and the English visit was to be the focal point.”This really highlights the difficulties created by the longer rugby seasons when associated with dual-purpose grounds. It also further emphasises the need for the development of the University Oval to Test match standard to become reality”, Mr Elliott said.Otago Cricket is discussing the change of venue with New Zealand Cricket with the Queenstown Events Centre seen as a strong option. The QEC will host its first major match on January 2 with the opening State Shield match between Otago and Wellington.

West Indies coach Roger Harper was confidant his side could comeback with agood performance in the second Test at Kandy starting on Wednesday, butadmits that the side need to find a way to counter off-spinner MuttiahMuralitharan.”We came into the Galle Test without much cricket at all. Having said that,we’ve got five days of Test cricket under our belts. We know exactly what weare up against here. I think that mentally we will be more prepared, morefocused on what we have to do to give ourselves a chance of doing well inKandy,” said Harper.”I think losing three wickets in the first session was a big set back for usand one from which we never really recovered. We have to look at themistakes we made and look at the areas we can improve. One of the things wenoted from this game especially, in the first innings was that the batsmengot starts and didn’t convert them into big totals. When you look at the SriLankan scorecard, they had a 99, 140 and 105.”We have to try and make sure that the guys who get in really put somethingbig on the board. We cannot afford to allow the opposition to score quicklyespecially at the start of their innings. We pulled it back on the fourthday quite a bit, but at the start of their innings they managed to score abit too quickly,” he said.Harper said that Muralitharan taking 11 West Indies wickets was nothingcompared to the 361 wickets he’s already got.”The point I am trying to make is that he is an outstanding bowler andcompeting against him on these wickets you know you are gonna have a toughtime. We have to look at how to counter him. We’ve been working on that,”said Harper.He said the present West Indies team was much fitter and prepared to workhard on their mistakes. “They showed commitment throughout the time theywere on the field,” said Harper.The good news for West Indies is that fast bowler Reon King will be fit forthe second Test at Kandy. “The doctor has given him the all clear tocontinue playing. He shouldn’t have any problems,” said Harper.

New Zealand paceman Chris Drum all but guaranteed a walk up start in next month’s triangular one-day cricket series by inspiring a four wicket win over the Prime Minister’s XI here today.Late tour replacement Drum took 5-34 including an opening eight over spell of 4-8 to help reduce the Prime Minister’s XI to 7-217 before Nathan Astle (85 notout) guided New Zealand to 6-222 with two overs to spare.Astle brought up the winning runs with a six but stand-in Kiwi captain Craig McMillan said little could be read into their performance before the up-coming one-day series which will also feature Australia and South Africa.The win continued a promising tour for New Zealand which came within three wickets of upsetting world champions Australia in their recent three-Test series.”We surprised a lot of people (who) didn’t expect us to compete as well, or get as close to Australia, as we did (in the Test series drawn 0-0,” he said.”A lot of people are sitting up and taking notice of us now.”We’re looking forward to coming back here after Christmas and giving the one day series a real shake.”New Zealand will contest a two-Test series at home against Bangladesh before returning to Australia for the triangular one day series starting in January.As a nursery for future Australian international cricketers, the match here today provided a few helpful pointers to Test selectors who watched the game.Wicketkeeper/batsman Brad Haddin (35) gave his usual big-hitting display before becoming the first of Drum’s victims.PM’s XI skipper Greg Blewett brought his side’s innings together with 41 and local ACT player Jack Smith, who hit a century against the Black Caps during aprevious tour game, top-scored for the side with 48 not out.Paceman Stuart Clark (2-36) and leg-spinner Cameron White (2-44) turned in economical performances for the Prime Minister’s XI.The game completed a dismal Australian tour for batsman Matthew Bell who scored a duck today after being dropped from the Test side in the Australian series.

An unbeaten hundred from RVC Prasad and his remarkable 168-run with No. 9 Hemal Watekar brought Andhra within shouting distance of Gujarat’s first-innings score of 499 on the penultimate day of the five-day Ranji pre-quarterfinal between the two sides at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad.Earlier, Andhra, who resumed at 250 for six, lost two early wickets in the morning. The score was 269 for eight when Watekar joined Prasad. In the 86 overs that followed the two men resuscitated Andhra hopes. When stumps were drawn, Prasad was batting on142 off 378 balls, a knock which included 20 fours, while Watekar was batting on a patient 61. All is now set for an engrossing first session on the final day. Whichever team secures the lead will make it to the quarterfinal. Gujarat needing just two quick wickets are still the favourites. But as anyone who has followed Andhra’s fairytale run would tell, one would be writing off the latter at one’s own peril.

Were the Barbados cricket selectors correct in exposing so many young players at the start of the 2002 Busta Series?The evidence of the first three matches might suggest not.Results could sometimes be misleading and one might want to read too much into the fact that Barbados have lost two of their first three games.What one needs to do is to examine the approach of the players.A careful analysis will show a mix of varying levels of success.Kurt Wilkinson, Ryan Austin and Sulieman Benn, three 20-year-olds into their second season of first-class cricket, have demonstrated that they are learning.The first-timers have been disappointing for the most part, although Tino Best’s pace, aggression and emotion have left tongues wagging at Kensington Oval and Sabina Park.Others like 16-year-old opening batsman Martin Nurse seem to be plagued by problems with footwork and he is also a weak link in the field.Dwayne Smith, 18, is an exciting batsman who possesses all the strokes in and out of the coaching manuals, but he appears to have forgotten which strokes are to be played to which balls.Shirley Clarke, 25, is not as young as the others, but had played in only one Busta Cup match prior to the start of the season. He is usually solid as a batsman, but has failed to compile a significant score in four innings.The two 19-year-old fast bowlers, Fidel Edwards and Antonio Thomas, have not had ample opportunities to be properly assessed. The fact that both have been given only one match may suggest a lack of confidence in them.Captain Philo Wallace has, on more than one occasion, knocked the youngsters for not performing up to scratch and has attracted public criticism for his comments.There is, however, some merit to what Wallace is saying. The youngsters must be told when they are going wrong and must be told that mediocrity will not be accepted at this level.At the same time, we must appreciate that it is a learning experience for some of them and some will take longer than others to develop. The question is how quickly will they learn?The game of cricket is such these days that the period of apprenticeship is not as long as it used to be.At international level, there are young players who have slotted easily into their teams. Abdur Razzaq, still only 22, has already scored three Test centuries and is a vital all-rounder for Pakistan in both versions of the game.Another question that has to be asked is, has the Barbados selectors opted for the adequate balance of experience and youth? It stems from the fact that as many as eight of the 13 that travelled to Jamaica last weekend were below the age of 21.In all fairness to the selectors, they might not have expected that four Barbadians, including captain Sherwin Campbell would have been selected for the West Indies team which is currently playing Pakistan in Sharjah.The situation was also compounded by Dale Richards’ withdrawal because of injury on the eve of the tournament.With four other experienced players having been discarded, it translated into Barbados taking to the field for the first match without eight regulars of recent times Campbell, Ryan Hinds, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins, Roland Holder, Adrian Griffith, Hendy Bryan and Dave Marshall.It left stand-in skipper Wallace often depending on the few seasoned players to pull the brunt of the weight. The fact, too, that they have been somewhat inconsistent has had something to do with the disappointing results of the last two matches.The youngsters might not have lived up to expectations, but we must be prepared to persist with them. Some may appear to be out of their depths, but they can only get better if they are given a chance.There is no doubt that the likes of Wilkinson, Benn, Austin, Smith and Best have the ability to progress to another level.We therefore should not be too hasty in wanting to write them off. They are as talented as any of the young players in the region and they must be encouraged as much as possible.But they must remember that potential must be translated into performance. It will no doubt take time, but we will not be prepared to wait forever.

It hasn’t been developed as a firm policy yet but if it should Marcus Trescothick, England’s utility wicket-keeper, is prepared to put the work in to give his side options for matches.Trescothick was the choice when full-time ‘keeper was given a rest in Saturday’s National Bank Series game against New Zealand in Wellington.For the moment he still regards himself as a specialist opening batsman, but he admitted he was enjoying redeveloping the ‘keeping skills that he employed until he was about 17 years of age when he made the choice to concentrate on his batting.He found on Saturday that the task of ‘keeping for 50 overs had not tired him out for batting and his only frustration was that he didn’t spend longer at the crease to see just how much more it would have taken out of him in a full match situation.No decision has been made by England yet on their team for the all-important One-Day International which will decide whether the tourists can get back into the series.He said he had felt his muscles after he first did the job in one game on the tour of India.”But I have done a little bit more practice since then so the muscles are starting to get used to it.”If it gives the extra option of getting another key player into the team then fine, at the moment I don’t see it as being a massive option unless things change dramatically, I don’t foresee it being a long term development.”If I wanted to do it I would have to do a lot more work, I haven’t done it for years. There would be a lot more work involved and a lot more practice,” he said.Trescothick has been working with James Foster in rekindling his skills and he may have a chat with former England ‘keeper Bob Taylor later in the week.His New Zealand counterpart Chris Nevin didn’t practice his batting at the training session today. He took three blows on both hands from England fast bowler Darren Gough in the first game in Christchurch and was not batting today as a precaution.The blows did not affect his hands for wicket-keeping, just batting.Chris Harris also had the afternoon off with a bruised right wrist. But there was no doubt about his availability for Wednesday’s game.