Men in White Coats
Umpiring is widely accepted as one of the toughest jobs in sport. With wave after wave of fans/ex-players/commentators increasingly asking for more technology to be brought into the game it doesn’t get any easier. Umpires are a strange breed, because unlike players they do not gain the accolades and the records and the media that the players crave and play for, and yet they sweat it out over 5 days. The money handed to an “elite” umpire at the end of the game is a joke- it’s close to what a FC cricketer makes (When you compare that with what some of the players make these days it’s absolutely nothing.).
Reading what the umpire needs
So it’s important to know what motivates an umpire to take up the role in the first place. Many umpires who have been offered the role to umpire in the elite panel have declined- eg: Peter Willey. Why? Because many do not want the demanding traveling, the public slandering of their name and the constant heckling.
Regardless of whether Darrel Hair was right or wrong in the decisions he has made- how can an upcoming umpire feel that the working environment is a safe one when looking at how hair was treated by the ICC?
Eng V SL 1st Test: Points to Ponder
Another home test and another win the Sri Lankans at Kandy. It was a bit tricky at the end and it took a couple of special balls from the golden boy from Kandy to seal the deal for the Lankans.
England came to Kandy knowing that they had to get something out of the 1st test if they were to stand a chance of winning this series. Visiting teams do unusually well in the former hill capital but order was restored and normal service resumed as Sri Lanka romped home for a 88 run victory.
100 and Out ?
Chaminda Vaas has been Sri Lankas bowling spearhead for as long as anyone can remember.He is easily the best fast bowler the country has produced, 320 test wickets at 29 and 387 ODI wickets at 26(wow) is a proof enough. Vaas joined the national team in 1994 and made an immediate impact, in only his 5th test match he got a return of 10-90 against NZ and was the chief architect in Sri Lankas first overseas test win.
Since then Vaas has stacked up some staggering records next to his name
- -In 2001-02 he took 26 wickets in a 3-0 rout of West Indies, becoming only the second fast bowler, after Imran Khan, to take 14 wickets in a match in the subcontinent.*-He went on to take the first-ever ODI eight-for, against Zimbabwe,which included a hat-trick.*
-He also claimed a hat-trick with the first three balls of the match against Bangladesh in the 2003 World Cup.*
But time as it seems time waits for no one, and it seems almost inevitable that the tight grip Vaas had in his bowling and his potency would slowly disintegrate.
Since 1st Aug 2005 he has not taken a 5fer. His best match figures have been 5/82. His average has shot up to 35 from his usual 28-29s. And the most telling figure is that his strike rate has taken a quantum leap to 71.6.
In 2006 he averaged a disappointing 45 with 12 wickets in 6 tests with an alarmingly high strike rate of 91.
Is Vass on his way out ?
Currently in 2007 he averages his normal 29 but as always the stats dont tell the whole story because 6 of the 7 wickets he has taken this year in the 3 matches he has played have been against Bangladesh,wickets may still be wickets but Bangladesh,with all due respect to them, are not the toughest opponents going around.