The hasty departure from Australia of English umpire Mark Benson has been portrayed in some quarters as yet another blow for the Umpire Decision Review System – a waffly title for what should be a simple concept.

Benson is said to have walked out of the Adelaide Test after complaining in private that the UDRS ‘just makes umpiring harder’. Throw in the comically bad application of the system at the start of the year, the reluctance of England and India to use it, and the disagreement over who should fund it, and cricket suddenly finds itself in familiar territory: a crisis.

And yet if the players and umpires are looking for someone – anyone! – to blame, they should start with themselves. The UDRS has been exploited and misused so appallingly, as well as blamed for everything from global warming to the credit crunch, you’d think unravelling the Duckworth/Lewis system without a calculator was a doddle by comparison.

The truth is, it couldn’t be simpler. A quick reminder: if a player thinks he’s been done an injustice and his side has one or both of its challenges per innings in hand, he can refer the decision to the TV umpire. And if the TV umpire sees clear evidence that the original decision was wrong, he can over-rule. Where, gentlemen, is the difficulty?

Problems have arisen not because – as romantics such as Dickie Bird believe – the on-field umpires have been stripped of their authority, but because both the players and the TV umpires have exceeded their brief. The ICC, in trying to deal with the kind of umpiring-induced bad blood that marred India’s tour of Australia in 2007-08, have made it clear all along that the UDRS is there to get rid of the howlers. And that is it.

If you believe howlers are a time-honoured and endearing part of the game, you will now be shaking your head. But if you believe cricket has a duty to its spectators and players to get as many decisions right with as little fuss as possible, you may think the eradication of Read more…

Administrator Australia Adelaide, Asad Rauf, Australia, Blogs.CMDN.com, Brendan Nash, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Daryl Harper, Doug Bollinger, Duckworth/Lewis, England, ICC, Mark Benson, Ricky Ponting, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, UDRS, Umpire, West Indies

Not many would have heard of Julien Fountain, but chances are you might just hear more about the man, considering how persistently he is applying for a job in Indian cricket.

On October 1, Fountain applied for the post of fielding coach, Hindustan Times has learnt, after being rejected for the same position about a year ago. The Board of Control for Cricket in India then had Robin Singh in place and did not take Fountain’s offer seriously. There’s no indication that they’re going to do so now, but that hasn’t stopped the Briton from trying.

For the record, Fountain has worked with the West Indies, Pakistan and England (T20) teams on-and-off, usually on a series-by-series basis. He has also worked with age-group teams and women’s teams, against mostly from the countries above, but rarely on a full-time basis. Fountain holds an ECB Level 4 coaching certificate and lists 15 different counties as those he has worked with between 1996 and now.

In his three-part application to the Board, Fountain lists as references former and current cricketers, including Ian Bishop, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kamran Akmal - not quite the A-list of fielding.

Fountain’s application includes a short-term plan to improve the fielding ahead of the 2010 T20 World Cup in the West Indies, and lists Throwing Biomechanics, Catching, Ground Fielding, Sliding-Diving-Rolling, Tactical Awareness, Pre-shot Movements and Stances, Statistical Analysis and individual testing and programmes for players.

The most interesting part of the application, however, is an open letter to skipper M.S. Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten, neither of whom would have received the communication as it was sent to the BCCI. Fountain begins by extensively quoting the captain and coach being critical of the fielding in a press conference. He then writes: “I can guarantee you, if you allow me to coach your squad, you will see an improvement in all areas of your fielding game, which I will be Read more…

Administrator Indian Cricket BCCI, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, ECB, England, Gary Kirsten, Ian Bishop, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, MS Dhoni, Pakistan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, T20, West Indies, World Cup

NOT so long ago it hardly seemed possible that West Indian cricket could sink any deeper into chaos and calumny. Allan Stanford had been exposed as an impostor and fraud, and all past payers who clung to his coat-tails were revealed as fools. Captain Chris Gayle had shown such little regard for his prestigious position that he had delayed to the last instant his return from his IPL lolly-collecting in South Africa to join his players as they prepared for a Test series in England. His contempt for his responsibilities and for Test cricket was matched only by his selfishness. Money does not talk, it swears.

Inevitably a half-interested West Indian side came a cropper. By all accounts the attitude of the players was abject. Admittedly it was cold, but that hardly offers an excuse. In any case, how dare these pampered young men treat their game, their supporters and their opponents with such disdain? Who raised them? Who told them it was OK to act this way? And with every idle stroke and baleful look they betrayed the legacy of Frank Worrell, CLR James, George Headley and the other, many, great men of West Indian cricket.

No, it did not seem possible that the West Indies could sink any lower. Now and then the optimists among us, whose numbers do not include regular observers close to the action, think the worst has passed, that West Indies have turned the corner, better days lie ahead, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and all the other clichés of hope. And on every occasion the dunderheads in charge and the administration prove us wrong. Well, no more. To hell with West Indian cricket. Break it up, let them play as individual nations. They are not worth the trouble.

Far from sorting out their differences in an adult manner, and in a way calculated to do as little harm as possible to the game at large and in their own backyard, the game they supposedly love, the game that has enriched them, the top West Indian players and management Read more…

Administrator West Indies Barbados, Blogs.CMDN.com, Champions Trophy, Chris Gayle, CLR James, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Frank Worrell, George Headley, Guyana, IPL, Jamaica, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Trinidad