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Anil Kumble will finally lead India in a Test at the age of 37 © Getty Images

The national selectors sprung a late-night surprise on Thursday and named Anil Kumble captain for the upcoming three-Test series against Pakistan.The announcement, which was delayed by several hours, was shorn of any drama – MP Pandove, joint secretary of the Indian board, had a dour look and a flat voice as he broke the news after he had gone through the announcement of an unchanged squad for the next two ODIs – but it meant the selectors had avoided the simpler path of plumping for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the ODI captain and favourite for the Test job, and instead backed the dark horse Kumble. It also meant India would, for the first time, have separate captains in Tests and ODIs.Kumble is probably one of the very few cricketers who has become a captain after having played 118 Tests. He follows in the footsteps of Karnataka team-mate Rahul Dravid, whoresigned from the captaincy for both Tests and ODIs in September. Whileappointing Dhoni – the captain of the successful Twenty20 team in SouthAfrica – for the ODIs against Pakistan, the selectors had sounded out Sachin Tendulkar for the Test captaincy. However, Tendulkar’s refusal made Kumble the outsider in a two-horse race with Dhoni the favourite.”It’s a great honour … it’s something every cricketer dreams of,” Kumbletold Cricinfo soon after the announcement was made. “It wasn’t much of a surprise, though, because I thought I came pretty close to it when I was vice-captain.”Asked about his relationship with Dhoni, Kumble said: “It’s a great asset to have somebody like him behind the stumps – even when he was just the wicketkeeper and I was just a bowler we used to communicate clearly. We’ll definitely complement each other.”It was a typically straight answer from Kumble who told Cricinfo yesterday he would do the job if asked to. “I don’t know what the big deal is, why so much is being made of this. I have said this before also.”At 37, Kumble is the oldest member in India’s current Test line-up. His 566 Test wickets are the most after Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. Kumble had served as vice-captain of the team before, but has led India once, in an ODI against England in 2002.He retired from ODIs following the World Cup earlier this year in the West Indies.

Hampshire’s home ground, the Rose Bowl, has moved one step closer to hosting Test matches after being granted provisional category A status. The move follows a report by an ECB inspection team, but England won’t be pulling on the whites on the south coast until the venue has met a series of stringent measures which includes improving access.One year prior to hosting a Test the ground must have completed the development work recently outlined and provided a second road into the venue with additional parking. Transport arrangements have been the subject of heavy criticism at previous one-day and Twenty20 Internationals held at the Rose Bowl.The pitch will also come under scrutiny and any future Test surface must pass inspection by the ECB pitches consultant and two pitch liaison officers one year before the match. The club must also show that the profits from hosting the matches will be ploughed back into new facilities.Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, said: “This is a momentous day for Hampshire Cricket and the Rose Bowl. We plan to invest a further £35 million in this venue to make it one of the leading Test match venues in world cricket and are pleased that the innovation which this venue delivers for cricket in England and Wales has been recognised with the award of this accredited status.”We must now continue the hard work to deliver a spectacular international sports and entertainment resort with Test match cricket at its heart. Our plans take cricket at the Rose Bowl ‘beyond first class’ and will provide fans with the exciting prospect of seeing the world’s best in action at an outstanding world-class international cricket ground.”David Collier, the ECB chief executive added: “The Rose Bowl is an exciting new venue with international quality floodlights and impressive development plans which seek to create a truly world class cricket facility.”

The postponement of the Asia Cup will hamper the development of cricket in the region and deprive the sport of much-needed revenue, Ashraful Haq, chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council, told AFP on Sunday. The tournament was indefinitely shelved last week after a request from the new Indian board.”It (postponement) is a significant loss to cricket in the continent, because the finances generated were due to be spent on development,” Haq said, adding that the event is unlikely to be rearranged for at least two years. “Since the schedules of teams at international level are so hectic it would not be possible to hold the Asia Cup until 2008. An ideal opportunity to distribute funds among member countries was wasted.”Countries like Oman, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Nepal and the Maldives needed these funds to raise the infrastructure, but they now have to wait for a few more years.”The Asia Cup was expected to generate around $16.5 million from TV rights and sales. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka received about $2.5 million each from the $19 million in revenues from last year’s tournament. Hong Kong and the UAE, who also played there, received $300,000 each, while the rest of the fund was spent on developing cricket among the associate-member nations.

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Three wickets for Daryl Tuffey set Northern Districts on their way to success© Getty Images

Otago launched their revamped venue University Oval with a thriller that attracted nearly 2000 spectators at Dunedin on Sunday. But the result, which was decided with two balls of the reduced overs game left, didn’t go Otago’s way. They had batted first against Northern Districts and had scored 169 which never seemed enough.It was a total that was given early impetus by Craig Cumming, the Otago captain, with support from Mohammad Wasim and Gareth Hopkins who scored 27 each. Down the order, a late 24 from Brad Scott, was valuable. He had started with the intention of batting out to the 40 overs, but he hit out once too often and paid the price in becoming one of Daryl Tuffey’s three wickets. Graeme Aldridge helped to tie down the Otago middle-order, as he bowled eight overs and took two for 17.ND had starts from BJ Watling (21), Matt Hart (27) and Hamish Marshall (21), but two-thirds of the way through the innings they looked to have shut themselves out of the game. However, Peter McGlashan batted out the over of a lifetime in taking 25 runs from the hapless Warren McSkimming and revved up the ND run rate. The injured James Marshall came in after the eighth wicket fell to score the winning run to relieve some of the pain of the split webbing in his hand which had required seven stitches.
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Central Districts won a vital toss at Waikanae’s Domain, which had been inundated by flooding during the previous 36 hours. They asked their neighbours Wellington to bat first and, at 16 for 3, the guts were all but knocked out of the Wellington innings.However, Neal Parlane threw out an anchor and scored 53, and he received partial support from James Franklin (14), Mark Gillespie (26) and Mayu Pasupati (27 off 17 balls) but Wellington were always going to struggle to defend their 166.Lance Hamilton bowled superbly in the conditions to take 4 for 13 from his 8 overs – a career-best, while Glen Sulzberger took 3 for 21.Wellington sniffed a chance with Jamie How and Mathew Sinclair back in the pavilion for 19 runs, but they reckoned without an unbroken stand being fashioned by Craig Spearman and Jarrod Englefield. They scored 146 runs to see CD home with a bonus point to see them to the top of the table at the halfway stage in their defence of the State Shield. Englefield was 80 not out off 86 balls, a career-best score, while Spearman had his best outing of the summer to date with 68 off 86 balls.

New Zealand’s hopes of success in the tri-series with India and Australia starting today will rest on resolving the long-standing puzzle of bowling at the death. This has consistently been a weak area in the New Zealand game but one which will again be sorely tested given the batting line-ups both the world champion Australians and, the runners-up, India possess.The death phase of games has so often been shown to be the vital stage of matches, the true difference between winning and losing. Control is something of an art form, and was an area where New Zealand enjoyed some ice cold composure during its outstanding era in the 1980s in the one-day game. More recently, the attention to this phase has not resulted in any significant formula being achieved.But if the side is to advance in the one-day game it is the area that most needs addressing. The facts are revealing. New Zealand has the worst of the Test-playing nations, even Bangladesh does better, albeit with less games to throw into the equation. However, New Zealand’s plight can be seen from the fact that the Netherlands has a superior record.Average runs conceded by each country in the 47th-50th overs of completed innings, between September 1 2001 and September 1 2003 (instances in brackets):

1st innings 2nd innings All innings————————————————————Pakistan (16) 28.8 ( 6) 25.3 (22) 27.9South Africa (22) 30.2 ( 6) 22.7 (28) 28.6England (13) 31.7 ( 4) 24.3 (17) 29.9West Indies (14) 31.1 ( 2) 24.5 (16) 30.3Australia (19) 31.7 ( 3) 27.0 (22) 31.1Sri Lanka (21) 32.9 ( 5) 27.0 (26) 31.7India (19) 35.1 ( 4) 24.8 (23) 33.3Zimbabwe (22) 37.5 ( 2) 17.0 (24) 35.8New Zealand (17) 38.5 ( 1) 35.0 (18) 38.3Netherlands ( 3) 36.7 – ( 3) 36.7Bangladesh (13) 38.1 – (13) 38.1Namibia ( 6) 40.5 – ( 6) 40.5Kenya ( 8) 43.5 – ( 8) 43.5Canada ( 1) 52.0 – ( 1) 52.0

On Asian soil:

All innings—————————-Pakistan (11) 24.3Sri Lanka (10) 27.9England ( 2) 28.5West Indies ( 3) 31.0India (12) 34.3New Zealand ( 7) 34.7South Africa ( 3) 34.7Zimbabwe (12) 36.7Australia -Netherlands ( 1) 33.0Bangladesh ( 9) 42.9Kenya ( 4) 43.8Canada -Namibia –

Again, a measure to be considered by a side looking to be competitive on the international scene is the absence of New Zealand bowlers among practitioners regarded as death specialists. Daryl Tuffey, is the only New Zealander to feature, and his placement is a further indication of how under-valued he was by some critics before the just-completed Test series with India. But to see Jacob Oram, Scott Styris and Andre Adams on the list for worst bowling at the death is of significant concern.INDIVIDUAL BOWLING AT THE DEATH:Best death bowlers (minimum qualification 10 overs):

player team overs runs rpo——————————————————-AR Caddick ENG 11 59 5.36M Muralitharan SL 18 97 5.39A Flintoff ENG 27 161 5.96CD Collymore WI 16 96 6.00GD McGrath AUS 27 170 6.30Wasim Akram PAK 22 140 6.36SM Pollock RSA 57 363 6.37Shoaib Akhtar PAK 19 131 6.89ST Jayasuriya SL 21 145 6.90TJ Friend ZIM 13 90 6.92

On Asian soil (minimum qualification 5 overs):

player team overs runs rpo——————————————————-Shahid Afridi PAK 5 14 2.80HDPK Dharmasena SL 8 40 5.00M Muralitharan SL 10 50 5.00Wasim Akram PAK 7 40 5.71RP Arnold SL 7 42 6.00Waqar Younis PAK 5 30 6.00D Gough ENG 7 43 6.14Harbhajan Singh IND 5 31 6.20DR Tuffey NZ 9 56 6.22SM Pollock RSA 9 57 6.33

Worst death bowlers (minimum qualification 10 overs):

player team overs runs rpo——————————————————-SM Ervine ZIM 14 148 10.57JDP Oram NZ 11 110 10.00TM Odoyo KENYA 15 148 9.87DT Hondo ZIM 24 235 9.79PW Gunaratne SL 11 104 9.45IJ Harvey AUS 10 93 9.30AR Adams NZ 21 192 9.14A Nehra IND 10 90 9.00WPUJC Vaas SL 17 150 8.82JN Gillespie AUS 11 97 8.82

On Asian soil (minimum qualification 5 overs):

player team overs runs rpo——————————————————-DT Hondo ZIM 13 118 9.08SB Styris NZ 6 55 9.17TCB Fernando SL 5 46 9.20JDP Oram NZ 9 87 9.67Z Khan IND 12 120 10.00SM Ervine ZIM 8 82 10.25M Dillon WI 6 62 10.33Mohammad Rafique BDESH 9 96 10.67V Sehwag IND 6 67 11.17TM Odoyo KENYA 7 83 11.86

All New Zealand bowlers at the death:

player team overs runs rpo——————————————————-KD Mills NZ 4 15 3.75NJ Astle NZ 1 5 5.00CL Cairns NZ 7 43 6.14DR Tuffey NZ 11 83 7.55PA Hitchcock NZ 2 17 8.50SE Bond NZ 16 138 8.63DL Vettori NZ 5 45 9.00AR Adams NZ 21 192 9.14SB Styris NZ 8 78 9.75JDP Oram NZ 11 110 10.00CD McMillan NZ 2 25 12.50CZ Harris NZ 2 25 12.50JEC Franklin NZ 4 57 14.25

On Asian soil:

player team overs runs rpo——————————————————-KD Mills NZ 2 2 1.00DR Tuffey NZ 9 56 6.22AR Adams NZ 4 31 7.75SE Bond NZ 2 18 9.00SB Styris NZ 6 55 9.17JDP Oram NZ 9 87 9.67CD McMillan NZ 2 25 12.50DL Vettori NZ 1 13 13.00

Most expensive death over:

runs player for against venue season—————————————————————-28 RJ van Vuuren NAMIB AUS Potchefstroom 2002/0327 AA Donald RSA AUS Perth 2001/0227 JEC Franklin NZ RSA Perth 2001/0226 MA Suji KENYA IND Paarl 2001/0226 AR Adams NZ ZIM Bloemfontein 2002/0325 WPUJC Vaas SL PAK Tangier 200224 JN Gillespie AUS PAK Nairobi (Gymk) 2002/0324 SM Ervine ZIM PAK Sharjah 2002/0323 SM Pollock RSA WI Cape Town 2002/0323 CZ Harris NZ ZIM Bloemfontein 2002/0323 GD McGrath AUS PAK Brisbane 200223 DT Hondo ZIM PAK Sharjah 2002/03

Most economical death over:

runs player for against venue season—————————————————————-0 Mohammad Sami PAK NL Colombo (SSC) 2002/030 Alok Kapali BDESH WI Benoni 2002/030 AA Donald RSA BDESH Benoni 2002/030 DR Tuffey NZ PAK Dambulla 20030 B Lee AUS RSA Melbourne 2001/020 Shahid Afridi PAK BDESH Dhaka 2001/020 A Symonds AUS BDESH Darwin 20030 A Flintoff ENG NAMIB Port Elizabeth 2002/030 Shahid Afridi PAK BDESH Dhaka 2001/020 KD Mills NZ SL Dambulla 20030 GD McGrath AUS WI Gros Islet 2002/030 Inzamam-ul-Haq PAK BDESH Chittagong 2001/02

Most expensive death spell (2 overs):

runs player for against venue season—————————————————————-40 RJ van Vuuren NAMIB AUS Potchefstroom 2002/0336 JEC Franklin NZ RSA Perth 2001/0235 WPUJC Vaas SL PAK Tangier 200234 TM Odoyo KENYA RSA Cape Town 2001/0233 LJ Burger NAMIB ZIM Harare 2002/0333 CM Willoughby RSA IND Dhaka 200333 ML Nkala ZIM PAK Bulawayo 2002/0333 IJ Harvey AUS RSA Port Elizabeth 2001/0233 Z Khan IND ZIM Faridabad 2001/0232 D Gough ENG RSA The Oval 200332 V Sehwag IND WI Vijayawada 2002/03

Most economical death spell (2 overs):

runs player for against venue season—————————————————————-0 Shahid Afridi PAK BDESH Dhaka 2001/022 KD Mills NZ SL Dambulla 20032 JM Anderson ENG PAK Manchester 20033 GD McGrath AUS WI Gros Islet 2002/033 SM Pollock RSA IND Colombo (RPS) 2002/033 Alok Kapali BDESH WI Benoni 2002/034 RC Irani ENG NAMIB Port Elizabeth 2002/034 TM Odoyo KENYA CAN Cape Town 2002/034 Mohammad Hafeez PAK ENG Manchester 20035 V Sehwag IND KENYA Paarl 2001/025 A Kumble IND KENYA Paarl 2001/025 MR Ramprakash ENG ZIM Harare 2001/025 SM Pollock RSA KENYA Benoni 2001/025 CRD Fernando SL BDESH Colombo (SSC) 20025 GD McGrath AUS WI Jamaica 2002/03

Run scoring in death situations is also not healthy. The statistics show that New Zealand, especially in the second innings of matches, is the worst performed of the Test-playing nations in scoring runs at the death. It is better placed in the first innings of games, but only slightly.BY COUNTRY AVERAGE RUN SCORING AT THE DEATH:Average runs scored by each country in the 47th-50th overs of completedinnings (instances in brackets):

1st innings 2nd innings All innings————————————————————Pakistan (25) 40.2 – (25) 40.2South Africa (26) 39.1 ( 3) 30.5 (29) 38.2West Indies (15) 38.5 ( 4) 31.3 (19) 36.9India (18) 37.2 ( 1) 30.0 (19) 36.8Zimbabwe (10) 38.3 ( 7) 28.3 (17) 34.2Australia (23) 33.9 ( 2) 30.0 (25) 33.6New Zealand (16) 33.1 ( 4) 24.8 (20) 31.5Sri Lanka (26) 28.7 ( 3) 26.3 (29) 28.4England (20) 27.3 ( 1) 25.0 (21) 27.1Kenya ( 9) 27.2 ( 1) 10.0 (10) 25.5Bangladesh ( 3) 28.7 ( 4) 19.3 ( 7) 23.3Netherlands ( 3) 25.7 ( 1) 11.0 ( 4) 22.0Canada – ( 1) 16.0 ( 1) 16.0Namibia – ( 1) 14.0 ( 1) 14.0

On Asian soil:

All innings—————————-West Indies (11) 39.0India ( 9) 39.0Pakistan (13) 37.8South Africa ( 4) 35.8Australia ( 1) 35.0Zimbabwe ( 5) 33.4Sri Lanka (13) 30.8New Zealand ( 7) 30.4England ( 4) 28.3Kenya ( 1) 29.0Bangladesh ( 5) 19.2Netherlands ( 1) 19.0Canada -Namibia –

Statistics compiled by Duane Pettet.

BAT Sports are off to a flying start in the newly formed Hampshire Cricket Board Under-16 Indoor League.They won both their opening matches at the Rose Bowl, beating Andover by seven runs and Basingstoke & North Hants by nine wickets.BAT’s victory over Andover in some way compensated for their defeat in last summer’s Southern Electric Gas Under-15 Trophy final.Ricky Rawlins (28), Craig Vigar (15) and Gary Cozens (15) guided BAT to 101-5 in 12 overs – a total Andover at one stage appeared to have little prospect of matching.But although Hampshire YC duo Steve Williams and James Manning were dismissed cheaply, Mark Copplestone (25) continued the fight … only to be suicidally run out at 94, with an over still remaining.BAT emerged comfortable winners against Basingstoke, restrictng the May’s Bounty club to 87-5 (James Parfitt 22) before Rawlins (26) and Matt Couch (27) set up the five-wicket victory.Basingstoke’s younger age side also lost by five wickets to Andover – a tidy knock by Mitchell Stokes (27) proving in vain as Manning (26 ret) and Williams (21) steered Andover to a comfortable win.Overall, the standard of cricket played was high – some athletic fielding complementing accurate bowling throughout the first series of Under-16 games in the Rose Bowl Cricket School.RESULTS:
BAT Sports 101-5 (Rawlings 28, Vigar 15, Cousins 15) Andover 94 (Coppleston 26, Guilfoyle 18, Rawlings 2-10)
Basingstoke & North Hants 87-5 (Parfitt 22) BAT Sports 89-1 (Couch 27, Rawlings 26)
Basingstoke & North Hants 82-1 (Stokes 27, Davis 21) Andover 83-1 (Manning 26, Williams 21, Palmer 15)
NEXT WEEK:
Mudeford, who won the HCB SunBank Under-15 Trophy last summer, take their bow in the competition at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.Fixtures : 6pm Fair Oak v Mudeford, 7pm Fair Oak v Locks Heath, 8pm Mudeford v Locks Heath.

Kerala’s medium pace bowler Tinu Yohannan was in devastating form on the opening day of the three day Coca Cola Trophy (under-25) tournament game against Karnataka at the Maharaja Jayamajaendra Wodeyar Sports Complex in Bangalore on Tuesday. Yohannan, who has been selected as one of the trainees for the National Cricket Academy, took seven for 65 off 20.3 overs as Karnataka were all out for 264. In reply, Kerala were 68 for no loss at close of play.Winning the toss, Karnataka were in trouble early when they they lost two wickets for 32. Their hopes revived with a third wicket partnership of 138 runs off 32 overs between Prajwal Raj (63) and SP Shinde (76). While the former faced 88 balls and hit seven fours and three sixes, Shinde faced 106 balls and hit nine of them to the ropes. Yohannan dismissed both batsmen in successive overs but Karnataka’s hopes of a good total were maintained with N Mulky (37) and MS Vinay (29) adding 50 runs for the fifth wicket off six overs. Vinay, who had opened the batting retired hurt in the seventh over after scoring only one run when the score was 20 for one. He re-entered at the fall of the third wicket at 170.Once Vinay was out however at 223, there was a sharp slump and the last six wickets fell for 41 runs off 22.3 overs. Yohannan took four of these and was well supported by Rajesh who took the other two. Mulky’s was a valuable contribution under the circumstnaces. He faced 66 balls and hit five boundaries.In the remaining 17 overs, Kerala’s in form openers V Girilal (23) and MP Sorab (33) survived till stumps even though Karnataka captain SK Susanth made some quick bowling changes in the closing stages. Girilal has hit five fours and Sorab, who carried his bat for 255 in the previous game, has hit seven.

West Ham are set to battle for the signing of LOSC Lille centre-back Sven Botman according to a report from the Northern Echo. 

The lowdown: Wanted man

Botman played an integral part in the Lille side that lifted the Ligue 1 title in 2020/21 and was hailed as a ‘top player’ by defensive partner Jose Fonte, helping to keep 20 clean sheets.

He earned an impressive 7.08 average match rating from 37 league outings in the process (Sofascore), and has even earned praise from the legendary Paolo Maldini for his form in the last couple of years.

The 22-year-old has already attracted attention from Liverpool and AC Milan in the past and now is the subject of further interest from the English top flight.

The latest: Hammers join the race

As per the report from NE, West Ham are set to ‘battle’ for the capture of the Netherlands youth international.

It’s claimed that whilst Newcastle United remain in the hunt, the east London club will offer ‘stiff competition’ in the summer transfer window.

Having failed in an attempt to land Duje Caleta-Car in January, it’s stated that West Ham are ‘set to switch their attentions’ to Botman.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-latest-developments-4/” title=”West Ham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The verdict: Solid investment

Irons’ boss David Moyes is believed to have ‘identified’ a left-sided central defender as a top priority and it’s easy to see why Lille’s colossal young Dutchman is among the leading contenders.

Described as a ‘golden boy’ by Francesco Miniero, Botman has gone from strength to strength in an exciting career to date and looks perfectly suited to bolster the defensive ranks at the London Stadium.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Standing at 6’4 and strong in the air (WhoScored), so far this season the ex-Ajax man has scored three times in 21 league appearances, proving to be equally impactful in both penalty boxes.

Valued at £27million and under contract in France until 2025 (Transfermarkt), signing the Dutchman will be an expensive venture but certainly a worthwhile one.

West Ham interested in ‘huge talent’. Read more here.

Australia’s captain Steven Smith has levelled heavy criticism about how Mitchell Marsh came to be given out at a pivotal moment of the deciding Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match in Hamilton. His opposite number Brendon McCullum, however, disputed the view that there had been no appeal to force an umpires’ referral.Marsh’s squeezed stroke off the bat and boot rebounded to the bowler, Matt Henry, who claimed the catch and raised his hand while turning towards the umpire Ian Gould. After some delay, during which time the big screen at Seddon Park showed a replay that indicated Marsh was likely to be out, Gould and the other on-field umpire, Derek Walker, agreed to refer the decision.Smith, the acting coach, Michael Di Venuto, and the team manager, Gavin Dovey, confronted the match referee Chris Broad after the match, and were told that neither umpire had heard an appeal initially. After that discussion, Smith contended that the episode had been handled “pretty poorly”, even though he admitted the right decision was made.”I don’t think decisions should be made on the big screen, I don’t think that’s right for the game. I think better processes need to be put in place,” Smith said. “We’ve got a review system in place. You have 15 seconds to make your decision and I don’t think that was necessary for that to come up in that point in time.”Neither of the umpires heard an appeal so the game went on. Well it was supposed to go on. It was shown on the big screen that there was a half-appeal so they went upstairs. I was pretty disappointed with the whole process .. it was handled pretty poorly. New Zealand players genuinely believed it wasn’t out and, not until they saw it on the screen, did they change their mind.”The right decision was made – he was out, there’s no doubt about that. But if I get hit on the pad next time and it’s missing leg, do I stand there and wait until it shows that up on the big screen?”For his part, McCullum disagreed that there had been no appeal, but admitted to expressing a further opinion to the umpires that the right decision needed to be made despite the circumstances.”I saw a couple of the guys appeal,” McCullum said. “The right decision was made but the process was far from ideal. It’s disappointing from the Australian point of view. When it did come up on the screen, which is not ideal, I yelled out ‘what the … is going on’. The only thing I said was the right decision has to be made.”It is not the first time Australia and New Zealand have been embroiled in a television umpiring controversy. During the Adelaide Test, Nathan Lyon was given not out after a lengthy review in which the third umpire Nigel Llong misinterpreted the evidence in front of him. The decision turned out to be pivotal to the outcome of the match, and New Zealand sought clarification from the ICC in its aftermath.

After months of rumour and little information, signs of progress in the review of the USA Cricket Association’s constitution have finally emerged.In a letter to regional league presidents, John Aaron, the chairman of the USACA League Presidents Reconciliation Commission, has announced that a document will be sent out this week.Referring to the last few months, Aaron said that there had “been some minor victories, several stalling moments and political meanderings that saw the forward progress stumble, stop and start. It has been equally frustrating for the five league presidents of the Reconciliation Commission, as much as it has been frustrating for each of you, particularly in the absence of information emanating from our national body – USACA.”I have called for calm along the way, seeking your patience and cooperation, as we see participated in this renewed effort of getting cricket back on track. I appreciate the support you have given the commission and myself, and now seek your support in reviewing the constitutional document expected to be on the USACA web site within the next 24 hours.”Aaron said that Chris Dehring, the former World Cup organiser charged by the ICC with overviewing the process, was looking for three goals; the distinction between policy making and administration in the structure of USACA; the need to have true regional representation and responsibility in determining national policy; transparency and accountability in the governance of USACA.Feedback from the initial document will be considered with the intention that a final version would be circulated on November 1. Aaron said that the aim was still to hold fresh USACA elections before the self-imposed deadline of November 30.