Legendary Umpire David Shepherd dies of cancer

London: Legendary England umpire David Shepherd died after a long battle with cancer on Wednesday. He was 68.

Shepherd, an international umpire, officiated in 172 ODIs, three consecutive World Cup finals and 92 Test matches from 1983 to 2005. He made his international debut in the 1983 World Cup.

Only Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen have stood in more Tests than Shepherd.

Shepherd was a first-class cricketer and during his 14-year-long career played 282 first class matches for Gloucestershire.

His umpiring career started in 1981 from first-class matches. His last Test appearance was in June 2005 between the West Indies and Pakistan in Kingston and his final appearance was in an ODI at The Oval in 2005.

The good-humoured Englishman was known for his superstitions - most notably his little hop when scores reached 111 or a multiple thereof. He was a favourite with the players and was respected world over.

International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan expressed grief over the death of one of the greatest umpires of all time.

"David was a true gentleman of the game," said Morgan. "He was a fine player and a match official of the very highest quality. He will be remembered fondly by players, spectators and administrators who saw him as a great entertainer but also as one of the best umpires the game has ever seen," he said.

"The example he set as someone who took the art of umpiring very seriously while also enjoying what he did immensely will leave a lasting legacy for the game. He was an engaging character which meant players and other umpires were always delighted to be around him. We have lost someone whose positive influence on our great sport has been immense."

Source: msn

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SACHIN, we miss you.

We miss Sachin. We miss him more in 'Tests' than in ODI. One great performance with the bat or ball by a player can invariably take a team to victory in ODIs. But in test matches, most of the time, it is the 'Sustained Brilliance' of the stars that can take you home. Ebbs and tides can be experienced in the longer version where a genius with experience can help 'in resisting the ebb' and 'riding over the tide' to take his team towards safety. Here Greats like Sachin count. Let us see how Team India has performed in the two versions when it missed him (Of course stats alone do not tell you everything, but it helps).
India without Tendulkar

In all, injury has kept Tendulkar out of seven Tests and 69 ODIs.
A look at the matches missed because of injury.

Tests:
1. vs Sri Lanka - Galle (Aug 2001); SL won by 10 wickets
2. v Sri Lanka - Kandy (Aug 2001); Ind won by 7 wickets
3. v Sri Lanka - Colombo (Aug/Sep 2001); SL won by inns & 77 runs
(Reason: Hairline fracture on right toe).
4. v Australia - Bangalore (Oct 2004); Aus won by 217 runs
5. v Australia - Chennai (Oct 2004) Drawn;
(Reason: Tennis elbow).
6. v Zimbabwe - Bulawayo (Sep 2005); Ind won by inns & 90 runs
7. v Zimbabwe - Harare (Sep 2005); Ind won by 10 wickets
(Reason: Opted out of the series because of the elbow surgery)
Out of these seven matches, India won three (Zim2+SL1) and lost three (Aus2+SL1).
One match was drawn.

One-Day Internationals: India Won/Lost
1 match vs New Zealand in New Zealand (Jan 1999) lost1/won0
5 matches - Pepsi Cup in India (Mar/Apr 1999) lost3(pak/won2(SL)
5 matches - Coca Cola Cup in Sharjah (Apr 1999) lost2/won3
1 match - Aiwa Cup in Sri Lanka (Aug 1999) lost1/won0
1 match - Coca Cola Cup in Singapore (Sep 1999) lost1/won0
3 matches - DMC Cup in Canada (Sep 1999) lost1/won2
4 matches - LG Cup in Kenya (Sep/Oct 1999) lost1/won3
7 matches - Coca Cola Cup in Sri Lanka (Jul/Aug 2001) lost4/won3
5 matches vs Zimbabwe in India (Mar 2002) lost2/won3
1 match vs West Indies in West Indies (Jun 2002) lost0/won1
7 matches vs West Indies in India (Nov 2002) lost4/won3
4 matches vs New Zealand in New Zealand (Dec 02/Jan 03) lost4/won0
5 matches vs TVS Cup in Bangladesh (Apr 2003) (NR1)/ lost1/won3 (BD2) 3matches - VB Series in Australia (Jan/Feb 2004) lost2/won1zim
2 matches - Videocon Cup in Holland (Aug 2004) (NR1)/ lost1/won0
3 matches - NatWest Challenge in England (Sep 2004) lost2/won1
2 matches - ICC Champions Trophy in England (Sep 2004) lost1/won1
5 matches - Indian Oil Cup in Sri Lanka (Jul/Aug 2005) lost3/won2
5 matches - Videocon Tri-series in Zimbabwe (Aug/Sep 05) lost2/won3Zim2
(*NR-No Result) TOTAL:(NR2)/lost36/won31

Out of these 69 matches, India won 31 and lost 36. Two were abandoned.
Of the 31 matches won, 5 were against Bangladesh & Zimbabwe

(fished out from 'Statsguru' at cricinfo.com) Source taken from an email

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Who is the Right choice to coach Indian cricket team?
Indian Coach or Foreign Coach

There is yet again a controversy. It happened before two years and it is happening again this year. Who is the right choice to coach Indian Cricket team? An Indian coach or a foreign Coach

Well this is one of the most famous controversies in India during the selection of coaches and the support staffs who will help those coaches. Always there are some people who bats for foreign coaches and there are some who bats for Indian coaches. Who is best for Indian Cricket team? In the past decade we saw coaches from both India and also abroad. The supporters who support cricket coach from India put forth a major point to all selection committee. The strong points of those supporters are

• Indian coaches can only understand the work culture of India.
• Indian coaches can communicate well with team due to the same culture
• Indian coaches can only understand the strengthens of the Indian cricket team and board
• Due to these understanding only Indian coaches can take the team to win the major events

These three are the major points that are put forward for selecting Indian coaches by these supporters. The qualities which was put forth by supporters of foreign coaches are

• New methodologies and game plan for the team.
• Can workout various strategies based on player's strengths
• Can bring out a new skill from the cricketer by providing opportunities
• Bold to take any decisions without looking to past records

Both side look more or less balanced in their stand points but how can we decide whether the Indian cricket team coach is Indian or a foreign player. To look into this, let’s go to yet another game which is more popular and played in more number of countries than cricket. Let’s go to European leagues of Football. If you see those teams (Madrid, Manchester etc) all will have at least one foreign player in the team and they recruit foreign players in their coaching squad too. From India only Baichung Bhutia played in those clubs. They strengthen the team by introducing the new techniques, which was used in the foreign teams. How this is useful for them.

Those players who are playing for European leagues will represent their nation in events like world cup. Due to those the attack techniques that they understood in league matches; they were well defended and also make their national team to understand the techniques followed by the European opponents. On the other hand, lets take our Hockey team, which is coached by Indian coaches and not accepting the foreign coaches. It is struggling to gain a 4th place in any event.

we are not saying just by bringing the foreign coach there will be a magic within the team. It is in the hands of players who are taking field on the particular game. For Indian cricket team both Indian and Foreign coaches took the team to Finals in world cup. This shows that the foreign coaches too can perform their jobs well in Indian soil. Ashuman Gaekwad took the team to finals during 1999 world cup and John Wright took the team during 2003. With this kind of result, supporters of foreign coaches attack all the supporting points of Indian coach supporters. Supporters of Foreign coaches put forth some record statistics in front of everyone.

• 2001 - India won after a follow on in Kolkatta
• 2002 - Nat west Trophy was won by two youngsters which none thought as a winning game
• 2004 - Went Australia and made Australia to struggle for a draw to save the series
• 2004 - Won the First test in Pakistan soil against Pakistan after 18 years
• 2004 - Dependable duo (Rahul and Laxman) showed yet another fight back against Australia.
• 2005 - 2006 (Aug) Won 13 matches by chasing without loosing one.

If we see the statistics most of the win came in foreign lands than in home ground. It was a biggest achievement of Indian cricket team under foreign coach. During the start of 2006 where the experiments of Greg are on peak India achieved a much bigger victories which looked like hungry beast waiting to be unleashed. Suddenly there were internal troubles and lot of changes in management made the team to get shuffled which lead to a disaster which was never seen before during world cup 2007. During the coaching of Anshuman Gaekwad, team was elephant in home and rats when away. That is because India's strength was in spin and players had lot of spin game than a pace game. Under the foreign coaches team was playing with pace bowlers than a spin bowlers which gave the confidence to play against the pace.

But does appointing a foreign coach make the team to win all matches like Australia. No we don't think so. It is player’s capability which will make the team win. During 07 world cup Indian cricket team had a bunch of individuals who plays for country. During 03 world cup we had a bunch of players who played as a team. We cannot blame a coach for the non performance of the team. Coach has only 5% of responsibility on a game. Remaining 95% of responsibility lies within the players not with a coach. A coach can only create possibilities not they can go down for play.

I Bat for a foreign coach who is creative and constructive, whom do you bat for?

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McGrath to coach Indian youngsters this month

Retired Australian pacer Glenn McGrath will take his first step towards a coaching career when he arrives in India to share his experience with young cricketers here and Hyderabad later this month.

McGrath will interact with around 300 junior cricketers selected by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) during his day-long stay in Kolkata.

The World Cup's Most Valuable Player will also visit Hyderabad and conduct a similar session with junior players there.

An excited CAB President Prasun Mukherjee said he wants the selected juniors to learn as much as they can from the legend, who finished his career as one of the leading wicket-takers of all time.

"From the CAB point of view I am very excited about Glenn McGrath coming here. All the bowlers from right from Ranji to under-15 level should take maximum advantage of this opportunity," he said.

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India keen to win series against Bangladesh: Dravid

Burying the World Cup debacle as a "thing of past", skipper Rahul Dravid Wednesday emphasised that India is keen to win the three-match One-day International series against Bangladesh starting Thursday. "The boys are very keen to get out and play some good cricket, especially after the World Cup, which had been a disappointment. We are very keen and we all want to win the series here," he told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, the match venue. Dravid didn't comment whether it was a fresh beginning for his team after the first-round exit at the World Cup in the West Indies in March. India lost two of the three matches, including one to Bangladesh, in the tournament.

"We are going to play a lot of cricket. We can't pick a team for one event. We have to keep a lot of things in mind and consider the whole scheme of things to see how we get the best out of each player to win. And that's the way we are looking at it," he said. Dravid pointed out that this was not the "end of something and beginning of something". "It's an on-going thing," he said of the increased number of matches played all round the year. The captain stressed that Bangladesh have shown some good results recently, not only against India but also against other teams.

"They have been getting a consistently good side and they no longer can be called minnows or anything. Now, everyone knows that if you want to beat Bangladesh we will have to play really well and to our best," he said. Dravid, who will be playing his 314th ODI, said that India also have good players who can cope with the local Bangladeshi conditions and perform well. He said that left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and batsman Manoj Tiwary, who has been ruled out for five days with an injured right shoulder, have been left out, leaving XII for the match.

The XII are: Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthick, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar and Dinesh Mongia

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Take A Break - Indian Cricket Team style!

This time let numbers do the talking. Take a look here on the extraa in(come)nings of our star cricket players -

M.S Dhoni - 8 Crores!
Days spent in Advertising: 75 days
No of Brands - 15 [Reebok, Reliance Comm, TVS, GE Money, Siyarams, Brylcreem, Titan Sonata, Exide, Castrol, Pepsi, Seagram etc]

Rahul Dravid - 13 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 60 days
No of Brands - 12 [ Bank of Baroda, Max New York, Hutch, Britannia, Pepsi, Reebok, Citizen etc]

Virender Sehwag - 5 Crores
Days spent in Advertising: 40 days
No of Brands - 8 [ Adidas, Pepsi, Boost, Hero Honda, Sahara, Britannia]

Yuvraj Singh - 8 Crore
Days spent in Advertising: 40 days
No of Brands - 8 [Microsoft, Pepsi, Seagram, SBI Cards, Reebok, Marico, Trent etc]

Sourav Ganguly - 5 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 35 days
No of Brands - 7 [TCL, Hero Honda, Tata Indicom, Sahara, Puma etc]

Dinesh Karthik - 40 Lakhs
Days spent in Advertising: 5 days
No of Brands - 1 [Nike]

And brace yourselves for the heartstopper of them all:

Sachin Tendulkar - Whopping 40-45 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 70 days
No of Brands - 14 [Pepsi, Cannon, MRF, Adidas, Pantaloons, Sunfeast etc]

So they have all the time in the world to endorse and make money but have nothing but lame excuses when it comes to performing for the country. Remember folks this money is apart from the hefty retainer fee from BCCI and per-match fee's they get.

Why Should India Be "Grateful" to Sachin Tendulkar?

CNN IBN runs an article - 'India ungrateful to Tendulkar'. Pray, tell me why in the name of the good Lord should India be grateful?

He sure has played some good cricket and he has received loads of accolades as well as compensation for the same. He is treated nothing less than a demi god in this part of the world. So if he has given his all to cricket, so has cricket given him everything be it fame or money. So where does the question of being grateful arise?

Sachin does not even bother to play domestic cricket. He has the audacity to ask for a tax waiver for his Ferrari!. And our government hands it to him in a silver platter and makes a proud statement of it to the media too!.

Wow, it surely pays to be a cricket star in India!

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Indian leads West Indies

When Brian Lara retired from cricket after the cricket world cup 2007, there was a big vaccency for the leading West Indies in future games. Problem with West Indies cricket team is, there are lot of efficient stars which performes in the games. It is not a single stared cricket team like India, but a multi stared team like South Africa. Every player plays with his own ups and downs. It was a close contest between Ramnaresh Sarvan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle for the captain post.

Chanderpaul is an ageing legend who has lot of potential in both test and ODI but with two main problems, like Rahul Dravid he is an slow starter in any match and his physical fittness is not upto the mark. Once settled chanderpaul is a free flow player who can divert the course of play from any odd situations. On the other hand Chris Gayle is an opening batsman, explosive on a good day who can provide a rapid fire for the score card. Chris Gayle is youngest talent in West Indies who can be considered for leading the team in future.

What West Indies needs now is a player who can lead from front with good experience in hand and must be young. The situation of the selection is more like Indian team selection in which an Indian got a chance to lead the West Indian cricket team. Ramnaresh Sarvan was offered with captaincy of West Indian cricket team. Ramnaresh Ronnie Sarwan, who has his roots in India, an elegant player who maintain his cool during testifying times named as West Indian captain. There are some Non resident Indians in other cricket teams but what makes this as big is that, an Indian is now on a place where legends of cricket like Clive lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran, Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes and others.

All the best Saravanan oops sorry Sarvan

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Cricket World cup 2007 - Post cup analysis

Cricket world cup 2007 ended with its style on April 28 2007. With the victory of Australia over Sri Lanka, Australia created the history in the cricket world cup by winning three consecutive world cups. Also there is yet another record made by Australia, which is, the team which won 29 games in cricket world cup without loosing. Apart from their win, there are lots of data to take home for other teams.

Lets see how the teams went ahead and let them down in this tournament.

India - The team of uncertainty

India, backed by a billion pressures made its 9th appearance in this world cup. Indian cricket team lead by Rahul Dravid provided a lot of hope for their countrymen. Their hope is on the deep batting lineup backed by experienced players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and other young bloods in the team. They had a decent bowling line up which also looked promising.

With lot of experience Indian cricket team started its game with Bangladesh which is also considered as a minnows in the game. But the fate of Indian cricket team in this cricket world cup was well written by Bangladesh team with a win over India. It was the match which decided the fate for India. None of the India's top batting lineup performed in the game and every player in Bangladesh performed well on the ground.

With a loss over Bangladesh and lots of pressure by Indian cricket fans back in home, India faced Bermuda where virender Sehwag made his first century after a long time. Everyone thought Sehwag is returning to form but the hope got shattered during Sri Lanka vs. India match. India won Bermuda with a huge total and all the top four performed in the game decently.

Then India entered into its crucial match against Sri Lanka which is a Do or Die match. India is on the edge of the knife which can tear the flesh of the team. With the brilliance of Sri Lankan fielding India was controlled by Sri Lankan bowlers during the match. Alas, India lost the match against Sri Lanka. India lost its berth on group stage matches in cricket world cup 2007.

From this cricket world cup, India has lot to take back home. The high hope on their batting lineup and the experience which they backed got fired by other teams. India's over confident on the experience and under estimation about Bangladesh paid its price. The internal politics and the lacking team sprit during the troubled times in the game are some of the reasons for their fall. It was the first time India got eliminated from the cricket world cup in group stages. It was one of the bad performances from Indian cricket team during the recent years.

Test playing Nations : India | Pakistan | West Indies | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | South Africa | England | Australia
Non test playing Nations : Canada | Bermuda | Scotland | Zimbabwe | Kenya | The Netherlands | Ireland | Bangladesh

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Are we doing right with Sachin?

Contributed by Sumit Singh

Heard a lot about India's dismal performance in the world cup and more than that the voice against Sachin putting questions on his credentials and asking him to retire. In one of the article even read that Sachin should take the responsibility and announce his retirement so that it relieves the pressure from the other Team players after the team's show in Caribbean.

But one thing always keep haunting me, why for more than fifteen years, the country of a billion has been expecting only one men to bring victories and take blame for every loss. As far as I know there are eleven players in the Team. I remember during the 03 World Cup, everybody blamed his failure in the final. But nobody thought that India was in final just because of 673 runs scored by the little master. What were other players doing there? Were they not playing final?

When Sachin hits a century and India loses, mind you even in the case the match is gifted to the other team courtesy Duckworth-Lewis, then its quiet common to hear that he can't win the match for the country, but people are even happy with Dravid's 50 against Srilanka though for not a single time India looked like winning. Is Dravid lacking something in terms of experience?

Inzamam took the responsibility for his team's performance and left his captaincy, even announced retirement from one-day cricket. But in India we want to hear this from a player of the Team, not the Captain or the Coach. I would like to know when did Dravid won a match single-handed for India; the fact remains that he has just played to turn a complete disaster into a more respectable loss (just like he did against Lanka). Now read the routine of THE WALL that it follows in an ODI match "Whenever he arrives at crease the run rate required is around 4.5 to 5 runs per over usually. Then this 'wall' block all the runs and India's run rate starts climbing. In this pressure others start losing their wickets. After 7 or 8 down the 'wall' suddenly remembers that they are playing in an ODI not test. So he plays some shots, reaches to his 50 and then get out. On the way he already earns all the respects and claps that the WALL stood again." But where he stood?? He fell and made India to fall.

We won't like to blame the Captain and Coach, asking what a Coach can do if the team performs like this. But then why do we have a Coach? I guess most of the players were having a much better technique before the Chappel era, and the Coach was brought to improve the remaining flaws, but he introduced some new ones, whether it may be Sehwag, Pathan , Kaif or anyone. No wonder India is now 8th in the Ranking.

Most of the people will say that this is another article from a typical Sachin fan. I do accept that I have been his fan for last 15 years, but did he ever say that he was the very best; in fact we crowned him as the God. We always compare him with Laras, Pontings, the Waughs, Sir Viv Richards and even Sir Donald Bradman. Every time a player is at his peak, we start comparing Sachin with him, but why can't we find another Indian player who we can compare with them? Still remains a mystery.

I don't know he should retire or not because he knows more of him than us. But, I wish he didn't because that will be succumbing to the pressure created by the former cricketers (who stand no where to him) and the media. No matter what has happened, no matter how things go and no matter how much media shouts I will always salute the God of Indian Cricket, who made this game the passion of a billion hearts.

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This Selection Is Not The Way Forward

The selection committee has wasted another golden opportunity. The talk of infusing fresh blood into the team after the World Cup has not materialized into something concrete, and Indian cricket continues to tread a dangerous path. The selection of the senior team, as with so many times in the past, has been fuelled by confusion and, more, by 'compromise'.

After all the big talk on youngsters replacing the tried and tested, only Bengal lad Manoj Tiwary finds a place. What happens to other youngsters who have proved themselves in the Ranji Trophy and A tours? What more should a bowler like R. Bose of Bengal do to claim a stake?

Two batsmen who will feel extremely disappointed are S. Badrinath of Tamil Nadu and Mumbai's Rohit Sharma. Remember the chairman of the selection committee stating that the 80 made by Badri in the Zal Irani Cup was one of the best domestic knock played on a difficult wicket? And add the runs he made against the likes of Shaun Tait and Clarke on the faster and bouncier wickets in Australia. Rohit, with his recent exploits, gave enough proof that he was a decent limited overs prospect. The signals that are sent to such players are not very healthy.

When performances in the Ranji Trophy and A tours are not going to be looked at with interest, one can lose faith in the system and unless the selectors start giving preference to players who toil and perform in the domestic scene, things can go haywire.

Some of the so-called recalls are only going hamper the progress route. Dinesh Mongia and R.P. Singh have been given enough chances to cement their place in the side but they have not done that, and no one else can be faulted for that. And Ramesh Powar making it only to the Test squad was highly amusing as he had looked the best bowler in the ODI's whenever he had been given a chance.

A tour to Bangladesh was the ideal platform to groom some of the youngsters. The kids would have got a fair idea of international cricket and readied them for the tougher assignments ahead. The upcoming season is one of the toughest Team India would have in a long time and with the majority of the side ageing and on the wane, this would have been the ideal time for a shake up and for the rebuilding process to start but sadly and as always another chance to put things in the right perspective and turn a new leaf has gone a-begging. Save your prayers for Indian cricket.

With the news of the Indian selection dominating the headlines, a small matter called the World Cup was conveniently forgotten. Australia's annihilation of their Trans Tasman rivals would have filled fear in all sides. If this is what the Aussies can do to a side that was widely expected to run them close…!

The Australian batting looks too good at the moment, and the bowlers seem to be hitting the straps well and getting into a good rhythm at the right time. It would take a Herculean effort from the remaining sides to stop the Aussies from claiming their hat-trick. It would take an extremely brave heart to put the money against the reigning champions.

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