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| Steroids' shadow is AP Sports Story of the Year The dark shadow that performance-enhancing drugs continue to cast on baseball was picked as the sports Story of the Year by members of The Associated Press, even surpassing the Tiger Woods sex scandal.... hosted.ap.org |
Pakistan chase world record victory • Australia 454-5 & 225-8; Pakistan 258 & 170-3• Pakistan require 252 to win with seven wickets remainingThe Pakistan captain, Mohammad Yousuf, will hold the key as his team chase a record 422 for victory after Shane Watson's maiden Test century gave Australia the upper hand heading into the final day of the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.Yousuf (45 not out) and the exciting youngster Umar Akmal (27 not out) steered the visitors to 170 for three at stumps on day four, still requiring a further 252 runs with seven wickets remaining to pull off what would be the most successful run chase in Test history. To win, Pakistan must surpass the highest ever successful chase of 418 made by West Indies in their defeat of Australia in Antigua in 2003.Ricky Ponting earlier declared Australia's innings on 225 for eight midway through the second session with Watson unbeaten on 120. Having come so close on three previous occasions already this summer, Watson finally broke through for his first Test ton shortly after lunch – but only after being dropped on 99. The Queenslander spent 67 agonising minutes and 39 balls in the 90s before eventually reaching his maiden century.In front of just over 15,000 fans, including his parents, Watson, who had fallen short of a first Test century with scores of 96, 89 and 93 this summer, converted his seventh Test fifty into three figures after yet another dropped catch from the tourists.Pakistan have been plagued by poor fielding in recent times and have grassed five opportunities in this match alone. The game, however, now rests in the hands of their batsmen after Australia forged into a formidable lead on the penultimate day, despite the efforts of Mohammad Aamer, who finished with five for 79.The 17-year-old had threatened to turn the match in Pakistan's favour with his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket, tearing through the Australia middle-order in the first session to reduce the hosts to 161 for six. Aamer captured three wickets in the space of 16 balls to have Australia on the ropes.Playing in his seventh Test, he took the wicket of Michael Clarke for 37 before following up with Marcus North (six) and Brad Haddin for a duck two balls later as Pakistan took the fight up to the hosts.Clarke and Watson put on 103 runs for the fourth wicket before the vice-captain was caught behind by Kamran Akmal. Watson brought up his milestone when he drove at a full delivery from Aamer in the third over after lunch that flew straight through the hands of Abdur Rauf at backward point. The 28-year-old managed a wry smile as he strolled through for a single before raising his arms in celebration as he became the first Australian to make a Test century since Michael Hussey against England at The Oval in August.Pakistan's chase got off to a rocky start when Doug Bollinger claimed an early breakthrough trapping Imran Farhat lbw for 12. But Iqbal Faisal and Salman Butt steadied the ship for Pakistan with the former particularly brutal with any short deliveries, smashing a four off Mitchell Johnson and a six off Nathan Hauritz in consecutive overs.Johnson (one for 36) had the last laugh shortly after when he caught Butt plumb in front for 33. And when Iqbal, on the verge of a half-century, was deceived by a fiercely spinning Hauritz delivery and bowled for 48, Pakistan were staring down the barrel at 116 for three.They were lucky not to lose another wicket shortly before stumps when Hauritz dropped a difficult chance from Akmal from the bowling of the part-timer Simon Katich.CricketPakistan cricket teamAustralia Cricket TeamShane Watsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Burke retakes overall lead in biathlon World Cup OBERHOF, Germany (AP) -- American Tim Burke has retaken the lead in the biathlon World Cup by finishing second to five-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway in a men's mass start race.... hosted.ap.org |
Ricky Hatton plans summer return Ricky Hatton has confirmed that he will return to the ring for one last fight. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Vic Marks: Decisions drag umpires into the spotlight • Referral system certainly needs some tinkering• Jamie Jackson: Loneliness of the long-distance umpireThe umpire at cricket is like the geyser in the bathroom; we cannot do without it, yet we notice it only when it is out of order." Thus wrote Sir Neville Cardus, who has rarely been heralded for his plumbing expertise.Cardus was right about umpires, though, and we have noticed them all too frequently in recent weeks. Daryl Harper has attracted the greatest attention. He has been likened to Inspector Clouseau one minute, Frank Spencer the next and that is by the gentle souls who work for this organisation. Elsewhere, from the head of the ECB downwards, he has triggered more virulent abuse and endless exasperation.Harper's bizarre decisions have prompted all sorts of calls: for the abandonment of the Umpire Decision Review System and the even more reactionary suggestion that the use of neutral umpires for Test matches should be ditched. In Johannesburg Giles Clarke, during his fulmination at the Wanderers, declared that he would be perfectly happy for England to be umpired by a Pakistani umpire when they play Pakistan. In Australia, where they trumpet Simon Taufel as the best umpire in the world, many think it "tragic" that he cannot stand in an Ashes series (mind you, nor can Daryl H). Questions have also been raised about the make-up and the running of the ICC's elite panel of umpires.First, the UDRS. Harper has managed to be its most persuasive advocate and its greatest enemy in the space of 10 days. His howlers in Cape Town were corrected, a triumph for the system, his – let's be generous – misfortunes in Johannesburg were a disaster. This is no basis upon which to abandon the system altogether.There has been much talk of the principle that "the umpire's decision is final" and how it represents one of the absolute and inviolable tenets of the game – as if the game was designed for the benefit of the umpires rather than the players or spectators. The notion that the umpire's authority is constantly undermined by the UDRS makes little sense to me.Which of these two scenarios undermines the umpire's authority more? An appeal for lbw is granted without the UDRS in place. Within seconds the TV replays show that the batsman has hit the ball hard on to his pads. But he has to go. The game proceeds amid smouldering resentment. Or the same lbw appeal is granted, but on review is overturned when the inside edge is clearly demonstrated on the TV screen. The batsman is reprieved and the game proceeds without fuss. The answer, surely, is that the first scenario undermines the umpire more.What the system does do, which may not be welcome to all umpires, is this: it highlights which ones are good – in the South Africa-England series Aleem Dar and Steve Davis were outstanding – and which ones are not so good.Of course, there should be refinements. I like Daniel Vettori's suggestion that there should be just one review per innings. Once the players are educated this should eliminate the marginal review when they seek to sneak an lbw, or the token one, which is used at the end of an innings simply because there is one to spare. Alternatively, a team could be limited to four or five reviews per match. Caught behinds will always be trickier to determine than lbws, but nobody promised perfection. The more technology here, the merrier.Those seeking the abandonment of "neutral" umpires have very short memories, not just of the festering rows between England and Pakistan throughout the 1980s and 90s. There were other rows as well, in which the nationality of the umpire involved stoked the fires. No one accused the Australian Mel Johnson of bias when he gave John Dyson not out in Sydney in the Ashes Test of 1983 after a run-out appeal in which the batsman was missing from the TV replays, nor Lloyd Barker for giving Rob Bailey out caught behind in Bridgetown in 1990. But the subsequent furore would have been diminished if neutral umpires had made those mistakes.The advent of neutral umpires has reduced tension. It has also meant that it is very difficult for Taufel to stand in a Test at the MCG or for Ian Gould to stand at Lord's – though he may do so when Australia play Pakistan there this summer. This is unfortunate; it is not a tragedy. There must surely be enough decent umpires out there to retain the "insurance" of neutrality.We can legitimately question whether the ICC have all the best umpires and whether they have implemented the best system of deploying them. It is a lonely, arduous, potentially depressing job, to such an extent that some of the best umpires have rejected the ICC's overtures to join the elite panel. Usually they have been English. Peter Willey, Jeremy Lloyds and Neil Mallender, all good umpires, have been reluctant to commit themselves to the ICC. This is partly because the ECB are good employers; they all prefer the security, the relative comfort and reasonable rewards of working on the county circuit, augmented by the odd one-day international. And they like to see their families now and again.The challenge for the ICC is to devise a system that retains an elite panel, probably enlarged, but that encourages all the best umpires to join. Those umpires would no longer be required to be away from home for more than six months every year. This may be an expensive process, but in the long run it would be worthwhile and, as a result, we may be blessed with anonymous umpires again.England in South Africa 2009-2010CricketVic Marksguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |