A number of those involved in the Super Test at Sydney have voiced their opinions about the increased use of referrals to the third umpire – and while a few welcomed the innovation, the overall view seemed to be that either it needed more work or things should be left alone.Rudi Koertzen, the South African umpire, was one who made it clear he was against the extended use of referrals to the third umpire for catches and leg-before decisions.”We all make mistakes and I think the players actually make more mistakes than the umpires do,” Koertzen said. “So they should leave it up to us to make the mistakes. We’ve got to live with that. That [Super Series] is only a trial. Who knows how far they’re going to take it? Hopefully not too far.”Simon Taufel, Koertzen’s colleague at the SCG, was in agreement. “For us as umpires, it’s all a little bit disconcerting,” he said. “There’s an extra decision-making process, working out whether we use the third umpire or not. A lot of stoppages have harmed the momentum. It’s nice to have it but I’m just trying to umpire normally as though the technology isn’t there. If I’ve got no idea about what took place, the help is obviously there but …”We’ll have a de-brief at the end of the series and see how it’s worked out. It’s only on trial. There is also the belief that increasing the technology will breed mediocrity among officials, where they take the soft option.”Perhaps the biggest fan turned out to be Ricky Ponting. “I think we are going to have to use it more before we get a really good idea on it,” he said. “When you are trialing the technology the way that we have here I think that you are expecting every decision to be perfect just because you are using technology and I think the way the game is and the subtleties in some dismissals can be very hard to pick up and determine, so that’s still going to be the case even though we are using this technology. I’ve been pretty impressed with the way it’s worked during the one-day series and certainly in this Test match.”Graeme Smith, the World XI skipper, was less impressed. “It’s another thing that needs to be looked at and fine-tuned. I think there’s so much doubt on the television for us. We look at things that we thought were out and it was given not out or we thought was not out and it was given out. You try to take the human element out of the umpires, but you are still giving it to the third umpire so I think there’s a lot of things that need to be looked at with the technology, I think it’s a long way from being at a level where it can be used.”And Glenn McGrath was even more against an extension of the trial. “I think it’s shown already that you are still going to make mistakes using it,” he told a Sydney radio station. “I would prefer to keep it the way it is. Just use it for the stumpings and run outs, the things that I think are clear-cut. It is a funny one. We’ve watched decisions in the rooms and we’re divided in the rooms. If the guys who have played the game can’t make a decision by what the evidence shows on TV, it’s going to be tough for the third umpire.”All the feedback will be assessed by the ICC. Malcolm Speed, its chief executive, was non-committal. “We will take a cautious approach with it,” he said. “It was a good opportunity for us to trial it here. We’ve taken that opportunity. We’ll see where we go from there.”Referrals during the Super Test

The USA’s Under-19 cricketers got an opportunity at last in Los Angeles to display the skills that had carried them through unbeaten in the Americas U-19 tournament in Canada five months ago.The 2005 U-19 tournament had been postponed, and then relocated from Florida to Los Angeles a month ago. Given the uncertainties caused by the assorted hurricanes in Florida, this was probably an expedient move – southern California is one of the few places that can promise an equable cricket climate in mid-November, and Los Angeles has certainly proved that it has the facilities to organize and hold major tournaments – after all, it was also the default location last year for the delayed US national finals.The tournament format was a somewhat truncated form of the 2004 version. Instead of three days of cricket during with each Zone played the other three, there were only two days of cricket with the first-day winners automatically placed in the second-day finals and the losers playing for third and fourth places.Judging by the results, the new format definitely worked to the disadvantage of last year’s finalist, the Atantic/SE Zone. They were beaten handily by the West (NW/SW) Zone, with their U-19 USA players Ravi Timbawala and Abhimanyu Rajp among the runs and the wickets respectively. This automatically put them out of the finals. Had there been a third match for them to play, they might have had a chance to break back into the tournament with a possible victory over New York who they had defeated in 2004. As it was, they showed what they were capable of in their decisive win over the Central Zone (CE and CW) for third place.Meanwhile, New York/NE faced few problems in their march to the tournament victory. Having skittled out the Central Zone with almost as much ease as the Atlantic/SE Zone were to do the following day, they eked out a closer but comfortable victory over West Zone in the finals and captured the 2006 National tournament. Again, the New York/NE stars in the USA national team, Akeem Dodson and Hemant Punoo (USA U-19 captain), were credited with their batting for the New York victory.Compared with the 2004 tournament, fewer runs were scored in 2005. There were no centuries this time (there were two in 2004); Akeem Dodson’s 76 and unbeaten 71 for New York were by far the highest scores in the tournament, and established him as the best batsmen for the weekend; he was followed by Timbawala’s unbeaten 60 against Atlantic /SE. On the bowling side, there was one five-wicket haul by Dominc Auden for NY/NE against Central Zone, and one four-wicket haul, by Nisarg Patel (West) against Atlantic SE.Atlantic/SE 117 in 34.3 overs ( Romero Deane 22, Renardo Francis 19; Nisarg Patel 4-29, Nadir Malik 2-23, Abhemanyu Rajp 2-10) lost to West (NW/SW) 118 for 3 in 24.4 overs (Ravi Timbawala 60*, Mrunal Patel 19*; Tim Allen 2-30) by seven wicketsNew York/NE 242 in 44.3 overs (A Dodson 76, K Ramsabad, D. Audain, N Hay, T Walters 16, K Ganesh 14; S Singh 3-46, J Makwana 3-60, R. Siddiqi 2-49, Wakas Khan 1-37, Shaham Mumtaz 1-33) beat Central West/Central East 64 (D Audain 5-19, F Mughal 2-15, T Walter 2-19) by 178 runsChamionship Game : West (NW/SW) 159 for 9 in 45 overs lost to New York/ NE 160 for 3 ( Akeem Dodson 71*, H Punoo 34*, K Ganesh 30 ) by seven wicketsThird & Fourth Place Game Atlantic/SE 322 for 9 in 45 overs (Bhatt 52, Francis 42, Allen 41,Nathaniel 58*) beat Central (CW/CE) 121 (Allen 3-45, Nathaniel 3-24) by 201 runs

Virender Sehwag, the Indian vice-captain, is extremely unlikely to play the second Test against Sri Lanka beginning in Delhi on Saturday. He is suffering from a throat infection and fever and was admitted to a local hospital on Thursday. Rahul Dravid is expected to play, though he missed a net session because of fever.Though Sehwag’s health has improved, the doctors have advised him against any physical stress over the next few days. “He [Sehwag] has not been able to swallow food or water and was therefore put on intravenous medication,” SP Byotra, a senior doctor of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, told PTI. “His body temperature was also near normal. But if you ask me whether he should be playing tomorrow, my advice will be that he should avoid the game and take rest for at least five to six days.”Baladitya, the team’s media manager, said that there was no issue over Mohammad Kaif leaving the practice session midway. “Kaif went through all the drills. He is perfectly fine. He took the permission of the coach before leaving.”Greg Chappell, the India coach, refused to speculate on who would be captain in case both Dravid and Sehwag did not play. “I don’t want to answer that. It is a hypothetical question. If and when that happens, we will deal with that.”

Mark Butcher has said he hasn’t yet given up on playing for England again, despite not representing his country for over a year.Butcher, 33, has been sidelined since injuring his wrist during England’s successful tour of South Africa during the winter of 2004. He played just five games for Surrey in the summer, missing the Ashes series and England’s tour of Pakistan. Having recently undergone further surgery, he is also out of contention for the upcoming tour to India; England are due to announce their squad on Friday.”It’s been giving me a lot of trouble but hopefully this time it’s sorted it out once and for all,” he told BBC Sport. “I’ll start using the bat again around the middle of February so – fingers crossed – I’ll be ready for the beginning of the season. Obviously the main thing is to get fit first but ultimately (an England place) is always the goal.”In his absence, younger players such as Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen have settled into the middle-order and, with the likes of Alastair Cook and Ed Joyce knocking on the door, Butcher’s chances of a recall appear limited. Butcher, however, is critical of the soft dismissals of some of England’s batsmen during their tour of Pakistan:”We gave away a lot of soft dismissals and didn’t give ourselves a chance to post big scores,” he said. “If they’d just managed to keep their heads a bit better on the last day of the first Test match they probably would have won the series in Pakistan.””As soon as you go a Test down in a three-match series over there it’s difficult because you have to chase the game. It just goes to show that while winning the Ashes was an amazing achievement there’s still a lot of work to be done before you can say we’re the best side in the world.”

According to a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official, the PCB has scheduled only two of the five one-day Internationals between India and Pakistan under lights in February due to logistical and security reasons.The official told the that day-night matches would only be played in Lahore and Multan with the remaining games to be all day fixtures — in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Karachi.”Our contractors have completed 70 % of the work of installing a floodlights system at the Multan Cricket Stadium and we hope the towers would be installed before the one-dayer against India is held there on February 16,” the official stated. He explained India was not playing a night match in Rawalpindi and Karachi which had floodlights mainly due to logistical reasons. “They play in Rawalpindi on February 11 and fly to Lahore for the next game on February 13. Since there is only a one-day gap between the two games it was felt it would be better if the players didn’t have to play a day-night fixture in Rawalpindi and could reach Lahore the same day.Similarly in Karachi they play the final one-dayer on February 19 and are scheduled to fly home the same night which is why we’ve preferred a day match there.”But he admitted that some security reasons were also behind the decision to have day games in Rawalpindi and Karachi, adding, “While Peshawar has no facilities to have day-night games”.Apparently, the PCB has scheduled a day match in Karachi specifically on the advice of the security agencies. The official said the two day-night fixtures would start at 11.00am to enable an early end to avoid problems with dew and foggy weather.On their last tour to Pakistan in 2003-04, India played day-night one-day matches in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

On a sultry evening in Colombo the Under-19 World Cup was launched withtypical Sri Lankan flair. The town may have been lashed by someunseasonably heavy rain, but that didn’t put a damper on the event as 16teams and numerous dignitaries descended on the Taj Samudra hotel.This is the second time Sri Lanka has hosted the tournament, and alongwith the 2002 Champions Trophy, they know how to put on a decent show.Tonight that involved traditional dancing and the appearance of a verywell behaved elephant.The Under-19 World Cup has grown in stature since the 1998tournament, and there were some heavyweight figures on the top table.Malcolm Speed had flown in this morning and was joined by the Sri LankanMinister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Jeewan Kumaranatunga, the chairmanof Sri Lanka Cricket, Jayantha Dharmadasa and Ian Frykberg, directorof the Global Cricket Corporation.First of all, the captains were paraded onto stage preceded by a group of drummersand lively dancers. Moises Henriques, the Australian captain, led the wayaccompanied by his flag bearer. A special round of applause was saved forthe host country and their skipper, Angelo Mathews, and the two tables ofUSA players greeted their captain with hearty applause. The widest smileswere also worn by the players from some of the lesser known countries,with the Ugandans clearly soaking up the atmosphere.

Digital cameras were not in short supply, as players grabbed memories ofthe biggest moment in their life. There was one player, however, who willhave been fairly used to the situation: Nepal’s captain, Kanishka Chaugai,is appearing in his third Under-19 World Cup – an impressive feat.As the captains lined up on stage, they lit up a world map behind them witheach of their countries. Asia was aglow – five nations are involved in theWorld Cup – but the British Isles was also shining strongly, and the USAbeaming brightly. The ICC want a global game and this tournament iscertainly not lacking for diversity. It would be a success if not only a clutch of young players came onto the scene, but a couple of developing cricketing nations made steps to establish themselves.The `big’ attraction then made its appearance; a huge elephant – withrider – plodded into the marquee, carrying the trophy and presenting it toSpeed. It was an impressive addition to the show, certainly not somethingyou would see at Lord’s or the MCG, but you just sat there hoping it wasnot an easily spooked animal. The master of ceremonies couldn’t resist anobvious pun as the elephant plodded away, claiming this was going to be a”jumbo tournament.”Speed’s opening speech followed and showed he still had a sense of humour,despite a number of testing situations he has had to deal with around theworld of late. “The ICC are often blamed when things go wrong ininternational cricket,” he said, “so it was no surprise that as I drovefrom the airport in the heavy rain I was told it was the first time in 12years it had rained in February.”There certainly isn’t much that can be done about the weather and it justhas to be hoped that it doesn’t affect the tournament to any great extent.Despite the untimely rain, however, thoughts are now firmly turningtowards the real action with the build-up now complete. As Speedadded, “may the best team win.”

India are counting their riches. They made a bold statement in Mohali by going in with five bowlers even though, essentially, only two in Munaf Patel and Anil Kumble had the woods on the England batsmen.Patel’s emergence points to an India where talents are sprouting in far-away fields. They are hungry and competitive, skilled and mature beyond their years. They have control and confidence and are more than just one-trick ponies. Suddenly, there is a scramble for places in the bowling department.It would encourage the team management to do a ditto with their batting. Wasim Jaffer has made a statement of intent in the first two Tests and in laying off the likes of VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, the message is loud and clear for the rest. A Sachin Tendulkar is still out of reach but a Virender Sehwag has caught the hint palpably. Informed ones must tell me if they have ever seen Sehwag apply himself in such a manner as he did on the last day in Mohali. He got one of his rare good scores in the second innings and what is more it could perhaps be his slowest fifty in Test cricket. All that talk of leave-him-alone and ‘he knows only one way to bat’ has been tossed out of the window. The sense of self-preservation can make the best of us do strange things.And finally to a man who played his first Test against me in Manchester in 1990. Anil Kumble was an unorthodox sight to us which was bemusing since India also had a regular conventional spinner in Narendra Hirwani. When I brought the side to India in 1993, he had started to feature a lot in our strategic discussions in the team meetings. From those days, it would appear he has not stopped evolving.England froze in Mohali because they realised they no longer can treat him as an incoming medium pacer. He was giving the ball a loop and his leg-breaks were turning. He seems to have finally got the one thing which has missed him all his career. In its absence, he relied on developing his googlies, variations in pace, and even clever use of crease. Now if the leg break has come to stay, Kumble could be good for 600 wickets and more!England went away from Mohali wondering if they could ever raise a 400-plus total in this series. That’s the only thing which brings their pacers into the equation. Or it’s a free slide. Batting, as they say, is now elementary for England. The ghosts of Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan are very much around. Nagpur now is so far away.For a side determined to engage India in attritional warfare, England’s collapse in Mohali was startling. It would bring to question their ability to stay focused in the subcontinent for more than a week. They appeared too soft, too fragile in conditions which were anything but hot and dusty. Besides, the pitch was on the batters’ side and one-third of the overs were not played.England, distressingly, do not have much option in dressing up their batting line-up. But fiddle they must in Mumbai, for neither Ian Blackwell nor Liam Plunkett have appeared an option at number eight – the spot where Anil Kumble has made such a critical difference with bat in both Nagpur and Mohali. It would mean that for the first time since the Ashes, their five-bowler theory would go for a toss.Four seamers and a spinner has pretty much been England’s ploy in the recent past but now it would not work. They need batting reinforcements but beyond Owais Shah, there is not much choice. They might feel it would leave their bowling a little under-cooked in Mumbai but that is not true for Blackwell and Plunkett were hardly seen at the bowling crease in the two Tests.Still, England are now retreating into their shell and it magnifies the crime of the batters. Andrew Strauss, after all these weeks in Pakistan and India, has still not worked out his methods for the subcontinent. Kevin Pietersen, for all his talent, appears almost desperate to attack and spinners love such characters. He wants to dictate terms even before he has got his eyes in.Ian Bell has an issue with concentrating for long hours which, ironically, till now has been seen his strength. The Paul Collingwood we saw in Mohali was different to the one who seemed to have sparked off an England revival in Nagpur. As for Alastair Cook, well, the kid can be spared a harsh word so early in his career.

The formidable Faisalabad Wolves lived up to their billing when they won the ABN-AMRO Cup Gold League,beating Lahore Eagles by seven wickets in the final at the National Stadium in Karachi on Thursday.Faisalabad have in fact regained their national limited overs title, which they had won for the first time in 2003-04 by bagging the season’s Quaid-e-Azam Cup. Lahore Eagles were one of the losing semi-finalists last season.After being put in to bat on a seaming pitch, the Eagles recovered from a shaky start of 43 for 4 in 16 overs to muster 244 , thanks to a defiant 62 by Shahbaz Butt, the wicketkeeper. Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner came under heavy punishment conceding 70 runs in 9.4 overs.The Wolves in reply romped home in 44.1 overs, losing only three wickets. Naved Latif finished with 54 not out off 55 balls and Misbah-ul-Haq, the captain, remained unbeaten on 44. The two shared an unbroken stand of 93 for the fourth wicket.Samiullah Khan, the left-arm fast bowler, picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his fiery bowling, with figures of 4 for 25. The Faisalabad captain received the glittering trophy and a cash prize of Rs 2,50,000 while Aamer Sajjad, the Lahore Eagles captain, collected the runners-up trophy and a cash award of Rs 1,25,000.The Faisalabad opening pair of Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Ali gave their team a flying start of 124 runs in 19 overs. Hafeez was trapped lbw by Sohail Ahmed for 67, where he clubbed eight fours and a six his during his 52-ball knock. Imran Ali’s 73 included 10 boundaries.Mohammad Hafeez (best batsman), Saeed Ajmal (best bowler), Mohammad Salman (best wicketkeeper) and Multan Tigers’ Saeed Anwar Junior and Lahore Eagles’ Abid Ali (joint prize for best fielder) got special awards carrying Rs 25,000 each.

Division 1

Durham reproduced the sort of steamrollering form that earned them a double-promotion last season, as Kent crashed from a carefree 169 for 2 to be left teetering on the brink of defeat at Canterbury. In reply to Durham’s 574 for 9 declared, they lost their last eight wickets for 110, with Graham Onions riding the gravy train for a career-best 3 for 91. All out for 340 and swiftly re-inserted, Kent then continued their capitulation. Onions bagged both openers, David Fulton and Robert Key, before Callum Thorp and Gareth Breese made light work of the middle order to leave Kent just two wickets from defeat.No play was possible on the final day at Old Trafford, as Lancashire’s low-scoring contest with Hampshire petered out to a disappointing draw. After conceding a first-innings deficit of 30, Hampshire had lead by 24 overnight, thanks to an unbeaten opening stand of 54 between Michael Brown and James Adams.Warwickshire converted their overnight 308 for 5 into a useful 147-run lead against Sussex at Hove. Robin Martin-Jenkins kept chipping away to take 4 for 78, but 58 from Jim Troughton and 42 from Michael Powell kept Warwickshire on course. That position looked even healthier when Sussex lost both openers with just 32 runs on the board, but Michael Yardy and Murray Goodwin steadied the nerves with an unbeaten 74-run stand for the third wicket.Yet more rain at Trent Bridge reduced Nottinghamshire’smatch against Yorkshire to an complete non-event. Only 14 overs had been possible on the first and second days, in which time Notts progressed to 69 for 1.

Division 2

A brilliant 172 on debut from Cameron White was not enough to rescue Somerset, as they lost their last two wickets for the addition of 19, to slump to defeat by an innings and 7 runs against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Unbeaten on 153 overnight, White did his best to postpone the inevitable, but two strikes from Ian Harvey was enough to seal the match.Darren Gough followed up his first-innings five-for by smacking a joyful 52 not out from No. 11, to haul Essex right back into contention against Northants at Chelmsford. Essex had been deep in the mire at 234 for 7 overnight, but fifties from James Middlebrook and Graham Napier lifted them to 381, a mere 16 runs from first-innings parity. Not content with that, Gough then added the early wicket of Stephen Peters for 7, before Ryan ten Doeschate grabbed three important middle-order scalps, to leave Northants precariously placed at 147 for 5.Derbyshire discovered that the The Oval really is their home from home, as they forced Surrey to follow-on in a fixture that had to be rearranged after severe flooding in Derby. After closing on 256 for 4, Surrey lost their last six wickets for 43, as Mohamed Sheikh grabbed his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Given that they are expected to bounce straight back into the first division, this was hardly the sort of performance they had envisaged, but Surrey knuckled down second-time around, with Scott Newman and Jonathan Batty added 152 for the first wicket. Neither man could get past the nervous nineties, however, and at the close Surrey led by a mere 40 runs with just seven wickets in hand.

Shahriar Nafees, the Bangladesh opener, has been fined 20% of his match-fees for dissent during the third one-day international against Australia at Fatullah.Nafees was found guilty by Jeff Crowe, the match referee, for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct that relates to “Showing dissent at an umpire’s decision by action or verbal abuse”.After he was given out leg before to Mitchell Johnson, Nafees shook his head and gestured with his bat in the direction of the Bangladesh dressing-room as he walked back. He was reported by Ian Howell and Nadir Shah, the on-field umpires, and AFM Akhtaruddin, the third umpire.”The player admitted what he had done was wrong and I took this, together with his previously exemplary conduct, into account,” said Crowe. “However, it is important to show that dissent of any sort at an umpire’s decision is unacceptable and the player’s punishment for his actions illustrates that fact.”