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After some sincere efforts over the past 18 months to revolutionise Pakistan’s cricket with the help of Advisory Council, the PCB Chairman was not satisfied with the level of success. In a further move towards progress he has dissolved the Council and replaced it with 5 committees to run cricket in the country.Since some of the old `advisors’ have been retained, the Chairman still hopes to benefit from their know-how. This may be worthwhile for maintaining continuity and one cannot challenge their on field `cricket savvy, however, the fact remains that administering the game is entirely different from playing it. To become better planners and administrators, they need to re-orientate their thoughts and actions.It is unfortunate that the Chairman who happens to be a diehard cricket lover and a man of good intentions was not provided the right guidance to run the affairs of cricket. There were chinks in almost all fronts, starting from team selection to the administrative functions of the Board. While others suffered from one blemish or the other, Zahid Bashir the Marketing Advisor, was perhaps the only official who distinguished himself by giving a boost to the Board’s treasure chest.During the last 18 months the Pakistan Cricket team has had its ups and downs like some of the other cricket teams. Even the once mighty West Indies and England, the pioneers of cricket have recently performed poorly. Yet, there is no cause for despair and this decay in Pakistan’s performance can be arrested with a little re-orientation of policies and preferences.It is unfortunate during the period under discussion the emphasis remained on undue expansion of the Board. A new structure was put in place and at times it seemed that everything done in the past was thought to be no more than trash. Also there was some over-patronisation of newbies at the expense of experienced players and even cases of over-projection of achievements.Being an ardent cricket fan and a former Board official who worked for promotion and love of the game and not for the money, I feel frustrated to see my old organisation criticised in the media from right, left and centre. Having served the Board in three stints of over 8 years, the HQ at Gaddafi Stadium is more like a second home to me. The tarnishing of PCB’s image for faults and follies that can be rectified with a little imagination and thought, pains me.Considering the love for Pakistan’s cricket like a cherished treasure and the PCB’s next objective of winning World Cup 2003 as a national aspiration, I have decided to put across my views on the subject in a series of articles with the hope that they will be given dispassionate thought. I feel some of the comments may taste like a bitter pill but shall have to be swallowed for the good of Pakistan’s cricket. So here goes!First of all I would say that `yes men’ are the biggest enemies of any well-run organisation. Real friends or advisors are those who speak frankly and explain what is right and wrong. To prosper from this, the Chairman shall have to alter his thinking from military precision to a sportsman and develop the tolerance to accept disagreements as well as criticism.Cricket administration is a science, one learns by playing cricket at some level, acquires thorough knowledge of cricket through research and study and gains administrative experience by handling different aspects of the game from club to national levels. The essential pre-requisites being flexibility of thought, administration skills particularly when dealing with the common man, love for the game, dedication and other traits of this nature.It is a specialised field and just as officials or organisers cannot win test caps, similarly, all test cricketers cannot be good organisers and efficient managers of the game. Those handling affairs of the Board and the newly formed committees must be a blend of players as well as administrators so that they can reinforce and balance each other to hit at the correct solution of a problem. They must be able to bring both sides of a picture to the top management.Each establishment has its peculiar characteristics, organisation, constitution, aims and objectives, resources, spheres of influence, national as well as public demands, hopes and aspirations. It cannot be efficiently run on the pattern of a radically different and disciplined institution like the army.We must also try and adapt only those portions out of the ICC structure that fit our own norms and systems in this country.Just as the present set up took over, the Board’s establishment grew disproportionately to its role and the work involved. The offices as well as stadiums were stuffed with many irrelevant people, most of them having no cricket back ground.To quote one example: a doctor, instead of practicing his skills on the needy, was appointed Media Manager with no qualifications and experience as such. He toured half the world as Assistant Manager with his last stint being Cricket Analyst for the New Zealand tour. Having recently reverted to medicine, he is said to have cost the Board a lot of money and to what avail?In the old days the Cricket Board was run by half a dozen officials, it has now around two-dozen. Part of this could be explained if there had been a corresponding increase in the amount of cricket played but not really so. Commenting on such an unwieldy establishment, one of the national dailies remarked `the PCB had opened an employment exchange for the job seekers’. Why must the Board earn a bad name for pleasing people who are not specialists for the jobs they hold?From my assessment and experience of running the Cricket Board, except for increased activity on the commercial side that spins money from sponsorships, nothing else has changed. Moreover, there is no expansion in the field of domestic cricket and even the visits of foreign teams to Pakistan are far less than they were in the past. Thus the expansion in Marketing is justifiable the rest is not.I would, therefore, humbly suggest conducting `right-sizing’ of the Board to reduce expenditure, gain efficiency and save the Board from undue criticism.
(To be continued)

Shane Watson’s endlessly enigmatic Test career for Australia is over. He had played 59 Tests beginning in 2005, scoring 3731 runs at 35.19 and taking 75 wickets at 33.68. Injury issues afflicted Watson for much of his time around the side, and he never reached the heights that many, including himself, had expected of him in Tests.Watson’s decision to quit the longest format comes in the wake of Australia’s loss to England in the 2015 Ashes, a day after he had to leave the field during a one-dayer at Lord’s due to “minor right calf strain”. He announced his decision after it was decided the strain would keep him out of the rest of the ODI series.”It has been a decision that hasn’t come lightly, over the last month especially,” Watson said while announcing his decision. “I know it’s the right time to move on and still hopefully play the shorter formats of the game, one-dayers and T20s. I’ve been through a lot of different waves of emotion about what is right for myself, my family and most importantly, the team as well. There wasn’t really one exact moment, because I’ve been through a lot of different sort of mindsets: believing the right thing is to play on, to the next day to ‘nah, I think the right thing is to retire from Test cricket’.”The past couple of days, for whatever reason, I had the clarity in my mind about what the right decision is. I just know that I’ve given everything I possibly can to get the best out of myself. I just know it’s the right time to move on. I don’t have that real fight in me, especially for Test cricket, knowing the lengths physically that I’d have to go through, mentally and technically as well, to be at my best in Test cricket, so I just know it’s the right time.”A measure of Watson’s battles with injury can be found in the fact that he has played around half of Australia’s Test matches since his debut against Pakistan at the SCG in January 2005. By that stage he had already fought numerous fitness battles, largely soft tissue injuries related to bowling, and they would continue to a point when he was told by CA medical staff that it would be easier for Watson to simply give up his allrounder status.However he was able to find a greater level of physical durability as a result of work with physios outside the team, including the Brisbane-based Victor Popov and the Rajasthan Royals’ John Gloster. It was in the IPL that Watson first showed he would be able to build a more substantial career, as the dominant player in the Royals’ unexpected victory in the inaugural tournament in 2008. From there Watson would go on to regain his Test place, and develop a highly effective opening combination with Simon Katich after they were thrown together during the 2009 Ashes tour.Over the next two years they were the world’s foremost opening combination, and one of few components of the Australian side to work effectively as Ricky Ponting’s captaincy tenure wound down. Ponting and Watson have always been close, and over this period he was at his most consistent with the bat while also bowling key spells with the ball. Nevertheless, his recurring tendencies to get out lbw and also to lose his wicket short of a century were both in evidence even then.After Katich was unjustly dropped from the list of Cricket Australia contracted players in mid-2011, Watson’s role changed as he became vice-captain under Michael Clarke, bowling more frequently but also losing the thread of his batting. The increased workload with the ball led to another bout of injuries, and he spent much of the next two summers sidelined from the Test team. His leadership axis with Clarke proved unworkable, and their differences were to spiral into the “Homeworkgate” fiasco that enveloped the team on their tour of India in March of 2013.Suspended from the XI to play in Mohali, Watson flew home to be with his wife Lee for the birth of their first son, and made it patently clear he did not agree with the direction of the team under Clarke and the coach Mickey Arthur. Bizarrely he would return to lead the side in the final Test of the series as Clarke was himself injured, but upon returning to Australia the vice-captaincy was handed to Brad Haddin. Subsequent off-field problems during the Champions Trophy in England led to the sacking of Arthur, and Watson took some satisfaction from standing up for his views of how the team should work as Darren Lehmann took over and the Ashes were returned in a 5-0 sweep at home.However the comfort Watson now felt about the team set-up did not translate into the strong performances expected of him, and his run-making would go into an irretrievable downturn following his fourth and final Test century against England in Perth in December 2013. The selectors persisted with Watson, largely due to his bowling, but by the time of this year’s Ashes tour it was clear he was struggling to find his way.Pairs of starts, lbw dismissals and unsuccessful DRS referrals in Cardiff provided a tragicomic last glimpse of Watson at the Test match batting crease, though it was his indifferent bowling that ultimately caused the selectors to lose patience at last. He had plenty of time to think over his career while running drinks in the four Tests that followed, and has now decided to concentrate on ODIs and T20 matches – the two formats where Watson has rather more effectively fulfilled his potential.”There’s a lot that I’m proud of,” Watson said. “The thing I’m most proud of is I’ve given everything I possibly can to get the best out of myself. I haven’t achieved certainly all the things I dreamed of achieving in Test cricket – average 50 with the bat and in the 20s with the ball. That’s obviously the dream as an all-rounder to achieve and obviously I didn’t get anywhere near that, but I do know I gave it everything I possibly can to be able to get the best out of myself. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

Mathew Dowman and Dominic Cork at last gave Derbyshire supporters a dayto savour when they transformed the match at the County Ground with arecord breaking partnership.The unbroken seventh wicket stand of 225 was the highest for Derbyshireagainst Durham and at the close, Dowman and Cork had taken their sideinto a lead of 369.It was a totally different story shortly after lunch when Durham had thehome side on the ropes at 121-6, only 143 runs in front, and there wasevery chance the game would finish inside two days.But the pitch had by now flattened out, the ball did not swing andDowman and Cork plundered bowling which became increasingly ragged on ahot afternoon.This was Dowman’s best innings for Derbyshire and, after spending 18balls on 99, he reached his eighth first-class century which wasapplauded by all the Durham team.Cork scored his fourth hundred and his unbeaten 105 was his highestscore while Dowman’s 129 not out was his best for Derbyshire.The stand was the highest against Durham this season and has seriouslydamaged their chances of avoiding relegation to the Second Divisionwhile Derbyshire now have an excellent chance of winning their firstgame since late June although they already look doomed to lose theirDivision One status.

The 12 members of New South Wales’ team of the past 150 years will be the first inductees of the state’s Hall of Fame when it is opened on Friday night. Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Steve Waugh and Bob Simpson will attend the event, which coincides with the Steve Waugh Medal, and the concept will be extended with two men and one woman being added each year.”Cricket NSW is delighted to introduce its own Hall of Fame,” David Gilbert, the chief executive, said. “We feel this is a fitting way to acknowledge the contributions of the great cricketers that have represented New South Wales and to recognise their achievements wearing the famous baggy blue cap.”The state’s team of the past 150 years was named in 2007 and players had to have made their first-class debut for the Blues. Only their performances for New South Wales counted so there were no spot for Glenn McGrath, who spent most of his career on international duty.The team Arthur Morris, Bob Simpson, Don Bradman, Victor Trumper, Charlie Macartney, Steve Waugh, Billy Murdoch (wk), Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Ray Lindwall, Charles Turner, Bill O’Reilly.

Victoria have signed Matthew Wade, the Tasmanian wicketkeeper-batsman, in a move Wade hopes will increase his chances of playing state cricket next season. Wade, 19, made his limited-overs debut for the Tigers in 2006-07 as a specialist batsman but managed only one match.With Sean Clingeleffer re-establishing his place in the Tasmania Pura Cup team and Tim Paine looking settled behind the stumps in the one-day competition, Wade believed his opportunities in his home state would be limited. “Tasmania has a strong squad and I’m really grateful for the time I spent there, but the reality for me was that I was third in line as far as the keeping position was concerned,” Wade said.”I’m hoping that with a fresh start with Victoria and more hard work, I can create greater opportunities to play state cricket. I’m really looking forward to joining the Bushrangers.” Wade, a left-hand batsman and former Australia Under-19 representative, could pose a serious threat to Adam Crosthwaite, who has established himself as Victoria’s first-choice wicketkeeper over the past two seasons.Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach who has also led Tasmania, saw Wade’s development as a young player and was thoroughly impressed. “He’s a pocket rocket,” Shipperd told the . “What he does do is score hundreds, and he has consistently done that since his junior days. He’s got a good technique, really solid. He could really challenge as a batter and a keeper. And it will present Adam with a serious challenge with healthy competition for a place in the side coming into the group.”Tim Coyle, the Tasmania coach, said Wade was a talented player and the Tigers had offered him a two-year senior contract to entice him to stay. “We understand that Victoria guaranteed him selection in its Pura Cup team to win his signature,” Coyle said.”We are not in a position to guarantee any player a game of first-class cricket as we prefer to see people earn the right to represent Tasmania at this level. But in saying this, we wish Matthew all the best for the future.” Wade, who was named Tasmania’s Young Player of the Year in March for the second consecutive season, is part of the 16-man Australian Institute of Sport intake for this year.

Brad Hogg has no intention of giving up the mantle of Australia’s leading one-day spinner to Dan Cullen, the rookie offspinner, before next year’s World Cup. However, he believes Cullen is the man to take over the role of leading Australian spinner in the future.Hogg, 35, said that the hunger to compete in the World Cup was greater than it had ever been for him. “As things get closer I think it was halfway through last year [it became] one of those goals where I wanted to defend something that I have done before,” he told the . “It is good that Dan has got a crack and he has a little taste of international cricket. He is probably going to be our main spinner once Warne and MacGill go in the Test arena and hopefully he can play a big part in the one-dayers as well from now on.”Following Shane Warne’s retirement from one-day cricket, Hogg has carved out a handy role for himself and picked up his 100th wicket during the first match against Bangladesh at Chittagong on Sunday. His tally rests at 101 wickets at 28.88 – with an economy rate of 4.52 – in 83 one-day matches, and he averages just over 20 with his late-order hitting. Cullen conceded just 36 from his ten overs on debut, but it was Hogg, with 3 for 37, who was the stand-out bowler on a spin-friendly pitch in Chittagong.Hogg believed he was in the form of his career and expected himself and Cullen to both make the squad for the World Cup in the Caribbean. “They took two spinners to the last World Cup and I can’t see why they won’t this time,” he said. “It looks like it is going to be Dan or myself or either one of us, but we have to keep performing to keep our spots. As they say you don’t give a sucker an even chance.”Both bowlers are set for another crack at Bangladesh at Fatullah tomorrow with Australia naming an unchanged side for the second game of the three-match series.

The start of South Africa’s next domestic season could be threatened by the Griqua Diamonds’ decision to go the legal route in their efforts to become one of the six franchises who compete in the country’s premier local competitions.Griquas have filed a High Court order seeking to stop the implementation of the franchise review committee proposals accepted by the United Cricket Board (UCB) of South Africa’s General Council on June 11 and have named an astonishing 24 respondents – all six franchises, the provinces, the companies that run the main stadiums, the UCB, the South African Cricketers’ Association, the men who conducted the independent review (former Minister of Education Kader Asmal and legal experts John Smith and Norman Arendse), the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, and even their own sponsors, De Beers, the diamond mining giants.When a new franchise system was adopted for South African domestic cricket in 2003, Griquas were grouped with Free State in a Central Region franchise to be based in Bloemfontein. But the Kimberley-based union failed to agree with their Free State counterparts on how to combine forces and Griquas went to court in a bid to stop the inaugural season (2004-05) of franchise cricket.They halted their legal action when the UCB agreed to a fresh independent review of the franchise system, conducted by Asmal, Smith and Arendse, at the end of last season. The review suggested Griquas join with Free State in a 50/50 split of the Central Region franchise, with the headquarters to alternate between Bloemfontein and Kimberley.The Griqua Diamonds are still not happy and on Tuesday will seek an urgent High Court interdict setting aside the UCB General Council decision of June 11.The General Council decision of June 11 was on the back of a 16-0 vote in favour of the review committee’s recommendations. Franchises were awarded to teams based in Durban, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Centurion and Johannesburg, with East London and Port Elizabeth agreeing to alternate as headquarters of the Eastern Cape franchise.If Griquas are successful in getting the number of franchises increased, they will have to fight off stiff competition from Port Elizabeth, Benoni and Paarl/Stellenbosch for the extra places.Port Elizabeth is South Africa’s fifth biggest city and the home of the country’s oldest Test venue – St George’s Park. Benoni is in the Witwatersrand, 30 kilometres east of Johannesburg, but their provincial team – Easterns – was one of the strongest in domestic cricket, winning the four-day SuperSport Series competition in 2002-03. After the switch to franchises they joined forces with Northerns, based in Centurion.The Boland Cricket Board is based in Paarl, with a prestigious university situated in nearby Stellenbosch, and the area is a major producer of talent, especially among the coloured (mixed race) community.Griquas abstained from voting on June 11, but have been vehemently opposed to the franchise system from the outset. In 2003, when the new structure was first adopted, their representative on the UCB General Council said “we will stop this just like we stopped the Gatting tour”. Mike Gatting led a rebel English squad on a tour of South Africa in 1989-90, but it was cancelled due to unprecedented protests in most South African cities by anti-Apartheid demonstrators.Griqua Diamonds chief executive Brian Kidson said “he had nothing to say yet” when asked about their reasons for going to court.Ken Borland is a journalist with the MWP Sports Agency in South Africa.

ScorecardBangladesh completed a hat-trick of victories in Group Two of the Plate Championship with an eight-wicket demolition of Ireland at Chittagong.Both sides were already through to the semi-finals before today’s match, but the incentive for the winners was a match against Scotland, while the losers knew they would have the stiffer task of facing Australia.Ireland chose to bat first, knowing that Bangladesh have stuttered when chasing small totals in the tournament so far, against Canada and Uganda. But Ireland were unable to set any sort of challenging target, crashing to 141 all out in the 47th over with Nadif Chowdhury, the left-arm seamer, the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 14.This time Bangladesh’s batsmen made few mistakes in their reply. Opener Nafis Iqbal at last found form with the bat, hitting 86 not out to guide his side to victory for the loss of only two wickets in 30 overs.Iqbal was named Man of the Match and said he was pleased to have made some runs for his team. He said, "It is not about scoring centuries, it is all about winning the match for the team. It was just important today that we won the match."Adrian Birrell, Ireland’s coach, singled out Iqbal for his batting performance. "All credit to Nafis for a very good innings, he batted very well against us," he said."I’m not too disappointed with our performance, we just came up against a better team on the day. We will now turn our efforts towards beating Australia and hopefully we may even meet Bangladesh in the final."

Relentless pressure from Australia’s bowlers, in particular Brett Lee, proved too much for England in a pulsating finish to the second VB series final at Melbourne. Lee took three wickets in the 48th and 50th overs to deny England after their victory target had appeared well within reach. Australia have taken the series, with the third final at Adelaide now unnecessary.England’s reply began badly, with Brett Lee’s express pace again undoing Marcus Trescothick, who found Andy Bichel at third man with an upper cut. The promotion of Ronnie Irani to number three backfired again as the Essex captain, after swinging Williams for one mid-wicket boundary, was well caught there in the same over close to the rope by Andrew Symonds, whose sunglasses served him well against the evening glare.Knight, who had looked uncomfortable against Lee, was a little unfortunate to pick out Symonds at backward square leg with a firm push. But Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain settled England down, Vaughan with fine timing either side of the wicket and Hussain with some good fortune, edging Lee between keeper and slip and almost perishing when the ubiquitous Symonds couldn’t quite hold on to a chance by the rope at deep square leg.Shane Warne, making his one-day farewell to the MCG, was held back until the 23rd over. When he did come on he was feted by his home crowd, but it was Brad Hogg who made the breakthrough in the next over, when Hussain (28) lost his off stump hitting across the line. But Alec Stewart joined Vaughan to maintain the momentum, with 13 runs coming off Warne in the 27th over. A Matthew Hayden misfield on the mid-wicket boundary gave Vaughan his half-century.Australia made the breakthrough they desperately needed when Vaughan, on 60, clipped Warne straight to Ricky Ponting at short mid-wicket. With the pressure mounting Stewart responded magnificently, driving Warne for ten runs off three balls to keep England on target. He went to his half century with an inside edged two in the same bowler’s next over, but his terrific effort was also halted by Warne, when an airborne cut was held safely by Lee at short third man.A booming boundary over extra cover got Andy Flintoff under way, and another in Warne’s final over brought up England’s 200. Paul Collingwood kept his cool with a succession of ones and twos, but Lee struck immediately on his return to york Flintoff for 16. Ian Blackwell lashed Lee to a diving Damien Martyn at deep gully, and the force was back with Australia.A leg-side yorker was deflected on to Andy Caddick’s stumps off his toes, and James Anderson was run out off his second ball, looking for a single after failing to make contact. After being favourites to win five overs from the end, England had the game stolen from them at the death.Earlier an unbeaten 71 from Brad Hogg enabled Australia to fight back after a middle order collapse. A batting onslaught in the last ten overs propelled Australia to 229 for seven, with Hogg receiving sterling support first from Lee and then from Bichel.In a twist so typical of this unpredictable game Warne, having been cheered all the way to the wicket on his farewell batting appearance in ODIs, was caught and bowled first ball by Irani. If there was dismay as he walked off, the cheering more than made up for it in the end, as Australia’s champion was chaired off by his team at the moment of victory.

Gloucestershire carried on from their overnight score of 405 for 4, before declaring at a massive 603 for 8. Rob Cunliffe, who was not out overnight, was eventually dismissed for 120, while his overnight partner Chris Budd remained unbeaten on 159 at the declaration.Chris Budd, who plays club cricket for Thornbury Cricket Club, is a former Gloucestershire Under-19 player and is currently at the University of Bath.For Somerset Keith Parsons ended with 2 for 58 in 14 overs, Graham Rose took 2 for 84, and Cornishman Jason Hall 1 for 40 in his 8.5 overs.Matt Bulbeck did not take the field for the second day after suffering a hamstring injury on Tuesday, which is hopefully not too serious.The Somerset reply started at 2.30pm, and by close of play they had 218 for 4, with opener Chris Hunkin making 55, Mike Coles 46 and Graham Rose remaining unbeaten on 70 at stumps.