A win can change a team’s perspective and inspire them to reach for heights that seemed very unlikely not long ago. And ever since Mohammad Ashraful dared to challenge the previously “unplayable” Indian bowlers on a third day at Chittagong, and made his team-mates understand that the opponents, despite their reputation, are still just cricketers, there has been a makeover in Bangladesh’s body-language and approach.The new-found dash was evident when they stunned India in the second one-dayer of he recent series at Dhaka and more proud during the first Test against Zimbabwe where the Tigers gave a polished display to win by 226 runs, a victory margin which fully justified their tag as pre-series favourites. Although there is a celebration hangover for the final Test at Dhaka, the players are eyeing a new chapter in Bangladesh’s cricket.”The first Test is in the past now. Another piece of history beckons – if we don’t lose here we win a series for the first time. But we will go out for a victory,” promised Bangladesh’s captain Habibul Bashar. “It will not be easy and we have to be prepared to work really hard. Our job is only half-finished. Zimbabwe will come hard at us and they have some pretty good batsmen. They played very well in Chittagong, and some of the performances probably did not get noticed because of our domination.”The Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, more relaxed now that the weight of expectation for a Test win has finally lifted, was trying to get familiar with a new kind of burden. “This is the first time the complacency might refer to us,” he explained, “unlike in other games when the bigger teams were guarding against it. We have to be careful against these sorts of things and continue our gradual progress. It’s a different pressure. Now we can’t lose the series. That’s one good thing. But the pressure is to maintain the form and finish it off on a high note.”Zimbabwe’s batting resistance took Bangladesh by surprise at Chittagong, and the opening bowler Mashrafe Mortaza warned that in two years’ time, they could be a real handful. But Zimbabwe’s bowling failed to make an impression. “Although I could not make runs, it was still the weakest bowling I have faced in my Test career,” said Ashraful. “I did not make much of a contribution and that was disappointing from a personal point of view.”
Bangladesh have stuck with the side that won in the first Test, and Mohammad Rafique himself quelled the last-minute concerns regarding his minor hamstring injury: “I’m ok, although the physio has told me to avoid sprinting too much.” Tapash Baisya suffered bruises on his right palm at Chittagong, but an X-ray on Wednesday revealed nothing serious.While the Bangladeshis were enjoying a day-off on Tuesday, Zimbabwe’s coach Phil Simmons had training scheduled for them at the Bangabandhu National Stadium which had to be postponed because of a sudden bout of rain. And so they had extensive practice sessions on Wednesday and Thursday to make up time.”I think experience made the difference between the two teams in the first Test,” said Simmons but Zimbabwe’s captain Tatenda Taibu did not quite agree: “Maybe the Bangladeshis have more experience but that is not an excuse for the loss. I think we only played well in bits and pieces. We have to gel together. I would like to see a few more runs from the top order. The spinners did not come to the party in Chittagong, but the seamers bowled tightly and if they bowl like that here on another flat track, they will create opportunities. And if we can take the catches, I think we will win.”It is a must-win situation for Zimbabwe who were giving nothing away and delayed naming their team until late on the day before the match. They were, however, boosted by the availability of Tinashe Panyangara, their most promising fast bowler, and the opening batsman Dion Ebrahim. Panyangara was sidelined with an injury in the first Test while Ebrahim, the only batsman in the squad with over 1000 runs in Tests , was serving a suspension for making disparaging comments about Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action in May last year.As ever, the pitch prompted a few questions after the one at Chittagong had stayed firm even on the last day. “Ideally I would like to see turn from day three onwards but we can’t predict anything, can we?” said Bashar. Taibu agreed: “I have not come to Bangladesh expecting the pitches to be green. This is just another flat wicket.”Bangladesh (probable) 1 Javed Omar, 2 Nafis Iqbal, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Rajin Saleh, 6 Aftab Ahmed, 7 Khaled Mashud (wk), 8 Mohammad Rafique, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Tapash Baisya, 11 Enamul Haque jnr.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 2 Dion Ebrahim, 3 Barney Rogers, 4 Hamilton Masakadza, 5 Graeme Cremer, 6 Brendan Taylor, 7 Tatenda Taibu (capt, wk), 8 Elton Chigumbura, 9 Tinashe Panyangara, 10 Douglas Hondo, 11 Chris Mpofu.
If the timing of Lord MacLaurin’s remarks regarding the future of English cricket last week was designed to kick-start a debate on the subject, then it has done exactly as intended.On Thursday, MacLaurin told the BBC that to survive English cricket had to consider reducing the number of first-class counties from 18 to 12 and, as a result, decrease the number of professionals in the game by about 100. He warned that with the next television deal likely to produce far less income than the current one, the alternative was for cricket to become a minor summer sport "like croquet". Several of the county chairmen spluttered on cue, although the biggest reaction came from the world of croquet who were livid at the perceived slight.But the idea was in the public domain, and in the four days since it has been the subject of considerable discussion. At the forefront is the Reform Group, a loose collection consisting of two former England captains – Michael Atherton and Bob Willis – Michael Parkinson, David Willis (Bob’s brother), and Nigel Wray, the multi-millionaire owner of the Saracens Rugby Football Club.Over the weekend the Reform Group published an open letter outlining a four-point plan to safeguard the future of the game. They said they were responding to “England’s performances against South Africa” and supporting MacLaurin’s comments. Their proposals were:1. An end to the First-Class Forum (made up of the first-class counties) which wields considerable power within the game, and its replacement by a streamlined management board responsible for all aspects of the game without the vested interest that the existing forum has.2: A reduction in the number of first-class teams to improve the quality of domestic cricket being played.3. A de-professionalisation of parts of the county game, allied to the establishment of a properly organised and financed county-based Premier League system.4. The creation of a true pyramid structure which allows non-professionals the chance to progress into the higher levels of the game. This would also create closer links between the professional and amateur competition.Mike Soper, chairman of the First-Class Forum, gave the proposal a mixed response. "I don’t agree with half of what the group has said. Some of it makes sense. You don’t just look at a piece of paper and agree with everything written on it, similarly you don’t dismiss it either.”But Soper did support the view that change was needed. “The ECB was formed six years ago, I think it is now time that we started looking at the whole constitution again. I don’t think the First-Class Forum will ever relinquish its power, until they are happy that the governing body and the executive can deliver."I don’t agree that there should be a reduction in the number of professional counties, but I do think Second XIs should be scrapped, and perhaps replaced with an amateur U-19 competition. If you got rid of half-a-dozen players from the 18 counties, reducing squads to 16 or 17 full-time professionals, then that will save around 100 players.”
The first inkling manager Ricky Skerritt had of the latestcasualty in the West Indies team was when he saw LeonGarrick asleep in someone else’s bed.The first indication that it might be critical came when heawoke Garrick, who spelt out the symptoms of a medicalcondition he had endured for some time.Confirmation that it was a potentially serious heart ailmentknown as sick sinus syndrome, which would end the littleopening batsman’s tour even before he had a chance to play amatch, came a couple of days later.Skerritt said he went to Wavell Hinds’ room last Friday tocheck on some details of his return home following the deathof his cousin and found Garrick on the bed sleeping.Normally, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it but theplayers now have rooms to themselves, rather than sharing,so I asked Wavell whether anything was the matter, Skerrittsaid.He revealed that Barney (the team’s nickname for Garrick)had complained of pains in his chest and had come to hisroom to be near a friend while he slept it off, Skerrittsaid.Alert to a possible difficulty following several in his timeas manager, Skerritt woke Garrick to be told that me hearthurting me, a periodic occurrence over the last two or threeyears.It seems it’s been common knowledge for some time but,because it didn’t persist, he’d not sought medicalattention, Skerritt said. But not knowing what was causingit had to concern him.He explained that the pain subsided and Garrick actuallyfielded as substitute and brilliantly for the injuredDinanath Ramnarine during the latter part of the Sri Lankaninnings of the third Test.In the meantime, I arranged for a specialist to see him andhe set up a procedure by which `Barney’ could be monitoredover a 24-hour period, he said. A battery of tests wascarried out with the latest equipment and the data showedhis heartbeat dropped to an unacceptably low level,bordering on the danger zone, when he was at rest.Skerritt stressed that, while there was cause for concern,the doctor here passed Garrick as fit enough to return toJamaica for further evaluations and treatment.He departed yesterday morning along with Ramnarine, whosustained a recurrence of the side strain that forced himhome early from the previous tour of Zimbabwe as well.That in itself was a fortunate coincidence in unfortunatecircumstances since Garrick would have a teammate with himon the long flight through London back to the Caribbean.Garrick’s role on the tour had been serving as 12th man, buthe would certainly have played in the triangular One-Dayseries also involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe that starts onSaturday.It’s a really unlucky break, Skerritt said. Barney’s been areal team man, taking on everything he did at practice, as12th man and in the field with complete enthusiasm.He said the doctor reported Garrick’s condition wastreatable with medication that should allow him to continuenormal life without dislocating his cricket career.Ironically, Garrick’s fellow Jamaican and opening partnerChris Gayle also suffers from a minor heart disorder knownas irrythmics by which the heartbeat speeds up.Skerritt said this had been detected early and Gayle nowtakes half-tablet of medication daily to keep it balanced.He has experienced no problems recently.The West Indies have been especially hard hit by withdrawalsfor one reason or another on each of their last two tours.Five players returned home prematurely from the tour ofZimbabwe, and now four have gone back from Sri Lanka, inaddition to Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s inability to comefollowing back spasms three days before the team’sdeparture.
Dominic Cork, with a memorable bowling performance on his return to Testcricket after a twenty-month absence and a very commendable effort fromDarren Gough, restricted West Indies to a moderate score after the touristsseemed well on the way to posting an imposing total.Claiming four for 39 from twenty six overs, which included an inspired spellof three for 16 from eleven overs after tea, Cork was chiefly responsible forcrippling the West Indian batting. Gough had not been particularly effectivein his earlier spell but he, too, came back strongly after tea, striking twovitally important blows with the dismissal of Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams.While Gough will be pleased with his spell late in the day and Cork will havegood reason to celebrate his return to the big stage, the rest of England’sbowling was disappointing and, on 162 for one (a run out), West Indies couldhardly have wished for a better start.To get back in the series after their crushing defeat in the first Test,England, ideally, needed to put West Indies under pressure from the start.But having called correctly at the toss, which was a good one to win in theconditions – it was overcast and there was some early life in the pitch -England failed to take advantage. To make it worse for themselves they evenfailed to accept chances that were offered by both opening batsmen early intheir innings.With an attack that lacked variety, England bowlers made little impressionduring the first half of the day. As off-spinner, Robert Croft was omittedfrom the final eleven, it left England with just seam bowling at theirdisposal. Of these bowlers, only Gough and Andy Caddick have had creditableperformances this season. With Matthew Hoggard making his debut, Corkreturning to the Test scene after a long gap and Craig White after an evenlonger absence, the selectors were taking a bit of a chance.If their argument was on the basis that the West Indians’ seam attack hasbeen so effective, then they would do well to remember that the tourists’bowling has in its ranks two of the great exponents of the art. CourtneyWalsh, at 37 and Curtly Ambrose at 36 still remain a very formidable pair.One need not look any further back than the last Test, at Edgbaston, forproof of their present standing.White was unimpressive in his eight overs, one of which provided Wavell Hindswith three stylish cover drives. Hoggard’s bowling was promising in his earlyspell but later fell apart and Franklyn Rose helped himself to a 6,4,2 and 4in one over.Some injudicious stroke-play and the late spells of Cork and Gough saw thetourists lose eight for 96 to end the day on 267 for nine. If England can batwell, they have a chance to put themselves in a strong position in thismatch.
Aston Villa made it three wins out of three in midweek thanks to a 3-0 victory over Leeds United at Elland Road, putting them in a good place to take on West Ham United tomorrow for their latest Premier League fixture.
Heading into the game at the London Stadium, it seems as though the Villans have been handed a boost that will surely give them a good chance of securing yet another win.
What’s the news?
Speaking in his recent press conference, Hammers manager David Moyes revealed that winger Jarrod Bowen will not be involved in Sunday’s game, having been absent since sustaining a knock during the Irons’ fixture away to Liverpool last weekend.
Taking into account how the Englishman has racked up 12 goals and 11 assists in 39 appearances for the east London club across all competitions so far this season, it’s safe to say that he has been a crucial figure for his side, who will now be disappointed to not have him available to take on Steven Gerrard’s side.
To further highlight the winger’s impressive attacking form in his latest campaign with the Hammers, only Mohamed Salah (41), Harry Kane (35) and Heung-min Son (28) have made more shots at goal in the league than Bowen (27)
In addition to the eight goals and eight assists he’s delivered in 28 league appearances in this campaign, the 25-year-old has also managed to earn himself an overall performance rating of 7.23/10, making him the highest-rated player in Moyes’ squad according to WhoScored.
Gerrard will be delighted
Given how much of a deadly attacking threat Bowen has been for his team this season, Gerrard will surely be pleased to hear that the winger won’t be lining up against Villa tomorrow, which would definitely give the Midlands club a better chance of potentially keeping their fourth clean sheet in a row if they were to stop the home side from scoring.
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However, with Moyes still having the likes of Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma at his disposal who have scored a combined total of 18 league goals between them in this campaign, the Villans will have to stay on their toes at the back if they want to stop the Hammers from scoring.
In other news: Gregg Evans drops behind-the-scenes Villa update that’ll have many Villans sweating – opinion
ScorecardEighteen wickets fell as the momentum swung back and forth on a dramatic third day’s play between Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh in Jammu. Having resumed on 159 for 5, MP were bowled out for 242, yielding a 39-run first-innings lead. But Anand Rajan, the medium-pacer, got MP right back into the game with a career-best figures of 6 for 45 as J&K were bundled out for 91. There was to be one more twist in the day, though. Set 131 to win, MP lost three quick wickets, including that of the first-innings top-scorer Devendra Bundela for a first-ball duck, to end the day needing another 113 runs to win. ScorecardDevendra Israni and Tahir Khan struck their maiden first-class centuries to propel Services to 325 for 5 against Kerala at Fort Maidan in Palakkad. But Services were still 241 runs in arrears and will have to play out of their skin to earn a first-innings lead. Israni and Khan shared a 197-run stand for the second wicket but Services lost their way towards the end of the day, when five wickets fell for only 99 runs. it was only because of Jasvir Singh’s unbeaten 56 that Services were still afloat. ScorecardHarshad Rawle cracked his maiden first-class ton while Mahesh Rawat approached his fourth to keep Railways in the game against Goa. However, like Services, Railways might find the going tough as they still trail by 244 runs. Having resumed on 31 for 2, they lost a wicket early but Rawle’s 87-run partnership with Sanjib Samyal and a subsequent 132-run stand with Rawat bailed them out of trouble. But Harshad Gadekar, who took 3 for 40, removed Rawle to push Railways on the back foot at 266 for 5. Rawat soldiered on, finishing on an unbeaten 83, to carry on the fight to the final day. ScorecardAt Motera, Tripura were staring at an innings defeat against Gujarat, who declared after extending their first-innings lead to 354 before snaring four quick wickets to take control. Bhavik Thaker, overnight on 102, moved on to 154 as Gujarat added 90 runs in 20 overs before declaring. Tripura started off well, courtesy a 68-run opening stand, but Ashraf Makda, the left-arm mediumpacer, got into the act with three wickets. Manoj Singh made 73 but he was the only batsman to touch 25 as Gujarat reached a near-impregnable position by the end of the day. ScorecardHaryana restricted Jharkhand to 205 before stretching the overall lead to 354, with four wickets intact by the end of the third day’s play in Jamshedpur. Sachin Rana, the medium-pacer, removed both the overnight batsmen – Sunny Gupta and Shabhaz Nadeem – to give Haryana a 68-run first-innings lead. Then the top order fired – three batsmen managed fifties with Mithun Beerala top scoring with 75 – and Haryana finished the day on 286 for 6. ScorecardNo play was possible for the second day running betweenAssam and Vidarbha at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. Heavy rainsruled out possibility of play on day two and three after most of dayone had been washed out. Assam batted for 29 overs to get to 65 for 2before play was called off before lunch on the first day.
Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the ICC, has been expelled from the Indian board in a decision taken at a meeting held in Jaipur. Dalmiya has been accused of misappropriation of funds and a refusal to provide the relevant accounts and documents pertaining to a few cases.This means that Dalmiya cannot hold any post in the BCCI or its affiliates, and this includes the Cricket Association of Bengal and the National Cricket Club. At present he is the president of both these bodies. This also means that he cannot attend any BCCI meetings in an official capacity.However, Dalmiya, who has always strongly denied the charges, told PTI after the expulsion that he had submitted a 46-page report which the disciplinary committee did not even read. “They did not even read it. They are all biased. There is no misappropriation. It is only their misinterpretation,” he saidThe meeting, chaired by Sharad Pawar, the president of the BCCI, discussed the report submitted by the disciplinary committee, which had earlier found Dalmiya guilty of misappropriation of funds in the PILCOM case. PILCOM was the joint committee comprising India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that conducted the 1996 World Cup.Dalmiya was invited to attend the special general meeting in Jaipur to present his case, but he chose not to attend, and nominated Saradindu Pal, the secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, to represent him.The resolution was adopted 29-2 against him. The Cricket Association of Bengal, of which he is the President, and the National Cricket Club, Kolkata, of which also he is the head voted in his support. Interestingly, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, once his loyalist, voted against him.Dalmiya, 66, has been given the right to appeal after three years for inclusion in the Board, BCCI Media Committee member Rajiv Shukla said after the meeting.”The issue of irregularities and refusal to provide relevant accounts and documents relate primarily to bank transactions of the Pakistan India Lanka Committee (PILCOM) formed for the 1996 World Cup,” treasurer N. Srinivasan told Reuters. “There were other issues as well, like bringing the board to disrepute.”During his 45-minute submission before the general meeting, Dalmiya countered every charge levelled against him and also made a 21-page written submission before the body along with large number of annexures, his lawyer Pradip Agarwal, who had prepared the defence, told PTI.Asked what could be next course of action for the former BCCI chief, Agarwal said, “the decision to expell will definitely be challenged in the court on several grounds and also on the ground of denying natural justice as Dalmiya was not allowed to speak after the decision.”In Kolkata, Dalmiya’s rivals in the CAB demanded a Special General Body meeting to replace him as its president. Referring to rule 38 (B) of the BCCI constitution, CAB dissident group leader Raja Venkat said: “Anybody expelled from the board stands automatically barred from continuing in any capacity in an affiliate unit. Hence Dalmiya cannot continue as CAB president.”Terming the punitive action against Dalmiya as ‘good for the game of cricket’, Venkat told PTI: “Nobody has done as much damage to cricket, particularly in Bengal, as he has done.”
Under fire Zimbabwe cricket chairman Peter Chingoka’s bid to head off a rebellion by most of the country’s first-class cricketers appears to have been dashed with an announcement by senior players that they would not play until an investigation into the board’s activities by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) had been completed. The probe could take weeks.A number of the players met on Monday in the aftermath of Tatenda Taibu’s resignation as captain and his retirement from the national side, and Blessing Mahwire and Clive Field, the players’ representative, told reporters that they had decided to continue to refuse to play for Zimbabwe pending the outcome of the investigation.”We are standing down until two things are resolved by the board,” said Mahwire. “First they have to pay the players their match fees for the India and New Zealand fixtures. The second thing is Chingoka and Ozias Bvute [the ZC managing director] have to step down.” And Mahwire made it clear that the players were in no mood to compromise. Either Chingoka and Bvute go, or they go. “We will all walk away from Zimbabwe Cricket,” he warned. “We have made a stand and we stand by that. Its now or never. Basically what this would mean is the end of cricket in Zimbabwe.”Mahwire also slammed Chingoka and Bvute for their handling of Taibu. “They gladly accepted his resignation. That was a sign that they are only concerned with their survival and not the welfare of players. These guys are simply not doing anything good for the sport.”The news means that Zimbabwe will in all probability have to withdraw from a proposed A-team tour to Bangladesh scheduled for January. The selectors were due to announce a side later this week, but faced without any credible players to pick from, they appear to be backed into a corner.Chingoka met with SRC officials on Monday and was grilled for more than three hours. Taibu was due to be questioned, but Chingoka’s examination took longer than expected and he had to return today. Chingoka and Bvute have also been investigated by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe about foreign currency dealings.
Ray Jennings threw a few punches at the post-day press conference on day three, in a move that may soon come to be known as the Jennings counterattack. Irked yesterday by remarks that South Africa had batted too defensively and looked like they were playing for a draw, Jennings remarked, “I didn’t see too much attacking cricket from the Indians today. Basically there’s been one batsman who’s batted really differently in this Test match. That’s Virender Sehwag, who played a lot of one-day cricket out there. The rest of the Indian batsmen looked like they had fallen asleep. We’ve put a stop on the momentum they had yesterday.”Jennings said that South Africa had decided not to take the new ball because the old one was reverse-swinging (the South Africans have used just the one ball for an innings that is now 125 overs old). “We felt the new ball would go off the bat quicker, while the old one was reverse swinging and was also harder to hit because it was softer. We might take the new ball tomorrow morning.”Jennings also gave an optimistic take on his team’s prospects in the match, saying the wicket was getting harder to bat on, and India would have to bat last on it. “I’m looking forward to seeing India bat on the fifth day chasing around 250.”Rahul Dravid said that India would like to extend their lead, 54 overnight, to about 120 or 130 on the morrow. “With a lead like that we could really put them under pressure. Ideally we’d have liked to make another 40 runs in the day, but they made us work hard for their runs.” He defended Sachin Tendulkar, who made another low score today, saying that people needed to remember that Tendulkar had been out of cricket for several months early in the season and was only just recovering his touch. “I’ve seen Sachin struggle before and he’s always come back strongly. I expect the same this time.”
Retired New Zealand umpire Steve Dunne has spilled the beans about his silence during the Muttiah Muralitharan throwing controversy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1995.Dunne, has written a book, ‘Alone in the Middle: An Umpire’s Story’ with Otago Daily Times sportswriter Brent Edwards which is due to be published by Penguin New Zealand next week.An extract was published in the newspaper today and contained Dunne’s side of his controversial silence during the match. He recounted that he was standing at square leg when Muralitharan came on to bowl and was called for no-balls by Australian umpire Darrell Hair.Hair walked across to Dunne and said to him: “Those no-balls were not for foot faults.”Dunne described the mounting tension and said in hindsight his view was: “Here was a cricket controversy of the first magnitude.” Dunne said Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga left the field and then came out and put Muralitharan on at Dunne’s end.”The atmosphere was electric. When spinners bowled, my method had always been to stand as close to the stumps as possible, because the closer you got the more likely you were to be able to pick up a bat-pad nick. I would have got a better view of Muralitharan’s arm by standing back, but I elected not to change the habit I had formed – and which had served me well – during my umpiring career.”There were many thoughts going through my mind. What do I do? Do I support Darrell Hair because he has called Muralitharan and do I call him as well? Or do I support what I believe, which was what we had discussed and decided at a conference in Coventry earlier this year?”That conference had decided in the case of a suspect action that the matter would be reported to the match referee who would have the action filmed and sent to the International Cricket Council.That had been the procedure followed during a tournament in Sharjah where Muralitharan had been playing and where he was the subject of a discussion between Hair, Dunne, English umpire Nigel Plews and match referee Raman Subba Row.”Nigel, Darrell and I were unanimous in our belief that Muralitharan had a problem,” Dunne wrote. “We told Dav Whatmore [coach] what we’d done and said that Sri Lanka should take remedial action because Muralitharan could have problems down the track.”The short answer was that, during that dramatic day in Melbourne, I stuck to what had been agreed on and did not call him. The atmosphere between Darrell and me when we returned to the dressing room at stumps was, needless to say, cool. I have great respect for Darrell as an umpire and person. He is someone I’ve always got on very well with and still do.”Dunne continued by saying calling a player for throwing was virtually saying he couldn’t play the game, and that was too “Godlike”. He said he came under pressure from the media for not backing Hair up, but he countered by believing he had done the right thing.”My argument was that he had played in about 30 Tests at the time, he had been watched by numerous umpires, and only one had called him. They were now telling me I was wrong by not supporting that one and disagreeing with the others.”Dunne recalled at the end of the match, the match referee, New Zealander Graham Dowling, had called him into his hotel room and asked why he hadn’t called Muralitharan for throwing. Australian captain Mark Taylor had implied in his match report that Dunne was more concerned about standing in the next World Cup.”That was absolute rubbish and made mWorld Cup.”That was absolute rubbish and made me very angry,” Dunne said. “I still wouldn’t call Muralitharan for throwing if I was umpiring him today. As I said before, I don’t believe it’s possible to do so with the naked eye and I wouldn’t want to play God. But I would report him to the match referee on suspicion that his action might not be fair. He is a unique bowler, in more ways than one, and I suspect that problems he poses both to officialdom and opposition batsmen won’t go away. They lie in the too-hard basket. It is not his fault, but he has caused more arguments than any player of the past decade. We don’t seem to be any closer to a solution now than when Darrell Hair first called out ‘no ball’ in 1995.”Dunne also recalled the evening he stood in a one-day international in his home town Dunedin when Pakistan fast man Shoaib Akhtar unleashed a torrid display of fast bowling. Dunne, and his fellow umpire Doug Cowie, reported Akhtar to match referee Ranjan Madugalle because they weren’t completely happy with his action.”I might as well make my position clear about Akhtar. I don’t believe he is a chucker, despite the fact that I, along with Doug, signed the report asking for his action to be investigated. I’ve seen the subsequent report produced by the University of Western Australia and it explains what he does with his arm, and that he doesn’t throw,” Dunne said.