Caught and Bowled: The Denness affair

The row between India and the International Cricket Council over the Mike Denness affair looked set to flare up again after the Indian board rejected a panel set up to review the matter.

The three-man Referees Commission was set up by the world governing body as a compromise after India had match referee Denness sacked without ICC permission during their tour of South Africa late last year. 

India were unhappy with some of Denness's decisions and persuaded their South African hosts to sack him. The ICC responded by stripping the third and final match between the sides of its Test status as the row escalated. 

The ICC on Thursday named South African judge A.L. Sachs, former Pakistan skipper Majid Khan and ex-Australia batsman Andrew Hilditch to their panel. 

But Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said the ICC had not consulted him as expected but merely informed him of the panel members.

 

Dalmiya told reporters: "We have written a letter to the ICC and requested them to reconsider and reconstitute their panel." 

"It is disappointing the ICC did not have much concern or respect for Indian views. My entire board will feel very disappointed at the way we have been treated by the ICC." 

Dalmiya said that when the ICC originally proposed its panel in December, the BCCI suggested that members from South Africa, India and England (Denness is a former England captain) be excluded, being the parties involved in the controversy. 

The Referee's Commission is due to meet in February and its findings will be considered by the next ICC executive board meeting in Colombo in March. 

The commission will review whether Denness followed the ICC's code of conduct during the second Test at Port Elizabeth, where he sanctioned six Indian players. 

It will also review whether there should be a right of appeal against decisions made by match referees and whether the ICC should set up a specific code of conduct for referees.

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David Lloyd writes...

World problems threatened to spoil England's tour to India but it went ahead. It would be bitterly ironic now if the Test series was cancelled because of a rift within the sport.

I really do fear what will happen if India pick Virender Sehwag, suspended for one match by Test referee Mike Denness in South Africa.

To me, the issue is so straightforward, I can't see why we are in this mess. The ICC are the governing body for cricket and everyone should abide by their decisions. You might not agree with their decision - but you abide by it. And if you disagree strongly enough, you go through the correct channels - not ignore a ruling.

India were wrong to insist they wouldn't play a Test match if Denness was the referee. South Africa were wrong to subsequently agree to play an unofficial match against India. Both countries should be punished in my view.

Nasser Hussain has said exactly the right thing, that the Denness row is absolutely nothing to do with the players and that England will abide by the governing body. In simple terms, if India pick Sehwag - and I think there's a good chance they will - there will be no Test match.

The issue is not whether India agree or disagree with Denness - they should accept it. Personally, I think Test match referees aren't strong enough most of the time. Denness has been strong and look what has happened. He will be disappointed and hurt with the repercussions. I just don't know what Mike's former team-mate Colin Cowdrey would have made of it all.

I  fervently hope common sense prevails. It has to. The game of cricket is above South Africa, India, England or any Test nation. If the ICC make a ruling, you might disagree with it - but tough luck.

What is going to happen next? A batsman wrongly given out refuses to walk and his country's Board support him. It will be anarchy.

This crisis can be stopped by some responsible figure who decides to abide by the ICC decision. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the head of Indian cricket, has to get his act together and quickly.

Cricket is just recovering from the Cronje affair. We don't need Indiagate at all. In my view, there is absolutely nil evidence that Denness or the ICC are biased against India. They should leave Sehwag out of this Test - otherwise the repercussions could be very severe indeed.

Nasser Hussain says the Indian cricket board has been disrespectful in its treatment of the England team.

The tourists' skipper hit out after his players finally trained at Eden Gardens ahead of Saturday's first one-day international following a string of complaints about the standard of practice facilities.

"It's just not good enough," Hussain told Sky Sports News. "It's as simple as that.

"You wouldn't expect this in any other professional sport. You wouldn't expect Manchester United to go and practice at a club ground. It just wouldn't happen.

"The club ground itself has been very accomodating and done as well as it could, but it's just not right. It's not professional and it's not the way to treat an international side with the respect that they deserve."

Graham Thorpe says he is ready to refocus on leading England's batting line-up after taking a break from the game for marital reasons.

The Surrey left-hander, who missed the last two Tests against India before Christmas, says it is now time to let his bat do the talking.

"It has obviously been a difficult period of my life," Thorpe told Sky Sports News. "But it has happened and I've tried to deal with it in the right way.

"Now I want to get back on doing my job and try to take some positive strides in that."

Physically Thorpe is not in good shape after struggling with a stomach bug, but mentally he is in the right frame of mind.

"I've got a lot to offer, but also I still feel I've got to get back to a certain level. I've had injuries during the English summer and two tours that haven't exactly worked out well."

The 32-year-old has been chasing quality practice time because before joining the squad he had not picked  up a bat since mid-December. Even so he is looking forward to the challenge.

"It is going to be a great atmosphere out here, but England have a lot to prove in their one-day cricket still. We made strides in Zimbabwe, but playing India in India is going to be a massive test for us."

CAUGHT & BOWLED WITH WILLIS & LLOYD
Posted Tuesday, January 15

As David prepares to jet off for England's one-day series against India - which begins on Sky Sports 2 on Saturday - he and Bob assess the tourists' chances and measure the impact of Muttiah Muralitharan's 400th Test wicket and back-to-back defeats for Australia in the VB Series.

Bob Willis writes...
England's bid to win the World Cup - the 2007 competition that is - starts here.

Coach Duncan Fletcher feels he's identified some young talent capable of achieving success, but it would be unrealistic to expect a side including those players to win a World Cup as early as 2003.

India will be tough to beat on their own patch, but will show the tourists how much they must improve to catch up with Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan. England's one-day form overall has been woeful for years - but don't expect a whitewash.

David Lloyd writes...
England have been complaining about the standard of their practice facilities in India. In 1998, we went to practice at St Vincent, in the West Indies. If you hit the ball straight there it went into the airport, but if you left it the ball went into the sea.

The bottom-line is that you just have to get on with the facilities you are given. England know they are still playing catch-up in the one-day game, but the underdog can win. To have a chance against India, England must spoil their party, upset their rhythm and believe as a team that they can win.

Marcus Trescothick is a doubt for England's opening one-day international with India in Calcutta on Saturday.

The Somerset opener was sent back to the team hotel with influenza after keeping wicket in the warm-up match with Bengal.

Bowler Paul Collingwood, who took 3-18 in the low-key affair, is also suffering but it is Trescothick who is giving the England selectors the most concern.

Coach Duncan Fletcher told Sky Sports News: "He was pretty bad today after that exercise where he kept wicket and exerted himself. We had to send him back to the hotel, but hopefully he'll be ready for the first one-dayer."

Trescothick claimed a stumping and a catch in his new role behind the stumps, but although he was impressed with his performance, Fletcher admitted he would only be used in competitive cricket in an emergency.

He said: "We're not going to see Marcus Trescothick keep wicket at all. We just know in case of an emergency that he is capable of taking over from Foster if he had to pull out before a game.

"I thought he kept well. We wanted to give him a go and I thought it was nice the way he took the ball - he looked a natural behind the stumps having not kept wicket for some time.

"We wanted to use him in case anything happened to Foster on the morning of a match and we would feel pretty confident now of putting him in for a game."

India 281-8 beat England 259 by 22 runs
1st ODI, Eden Gardens

India go 1-0 up in the Series

Oli Burley reports

Marcus Trescothick blasted his way to the fastest ever one-day ton by an Englishman but could not spur the tourists to a famous victory in front of a vociferous 100,000 strong crowd at Eden Gardens.

The Somerset opener - ill with flu in the build-up to the match - reached his century off just 80 balls before falling to Javagal Srinath for a magnificent 121.

His downfall, leg before to a ball that pitched outside leg stump, prompted a predictable England slump that saw six wickets tumble for just 35 runs to hand India a one-nil lead in the six-match series.

Earlier, England lost the toss after losing Graham Thorpe to sickness - and India took full toll on a flat pitch.

The home side sprinted to 78-0 in just 15 overs as captain Sourav Ganguly (42) and Sachin Tendulkar (36) attacked.

Andrew Flintoff momentarily silenced the crowd by bowling Tendulkar in his third over, then picking up Ganguly in the next but India reached the halfway stage at 122-2.

The score more than doubled in the final 25 overs even though England picked up four middle-order wickets for 49, including Dinesh Mongia, who top-scored with 71 off 75 balls.

Quick-scoring VVS Laxman (25) and Virenda Sehwag (29) kept up the momentum, but India's final thrust was propelled by Hemang Badani who struck a fine 35 off 33 balls.

Man-of-the-match Trescothick - dropped by VVS Laxman on just two - bolstered England's reply after Nick Knight (0), Nasser Hussain (25) and Michael Vaughan (14) had all fallen cheaply.

The left-hander took his one-day run tally past 1,000 in his 27th match during a fifty partnership with Paul Collingwood (21).

England - docked six balls for a slow over-rate - appeared to be in an Eden paradise, but their wickets in hand quickly evaporated once Srinath (2-42) returned.

With Trescothick gone, the tourists' hopes rested on Andy Flintoff (23) but the all-rounder sacrificed his wicket in a run out mix-up with Jeremy Snape.

Some meaty blows from Ashley Giles took England to within sight of the victory target, but India's greater batting consistency proved pivotal.

The England tourists are bracing themselves for a noise like none they have experienced before in their careers as they prepare for the first match of their one-day international series against India.

Crowd-figure estimates range from 80,000 to more than 100,000 for Saturday's one-day international at Eden Gardens, and nearly all of them will be passionately hoping for their beloved India side to claim victory in the first fixture of the six-match series.

With only four players in the 15-man squad - skipper Nasser Hussain, Darren Gough, Nick Knight and Graham Thorpe - having played more than 50 one-day internationals, England should also learn a lot about the character of the younger players and their ability to perform in such an intense, frenzied atmosphere.

"We will only learn from the experience," stressed Hussain. "This is why we play the game, big games like this, and we're all looking forward to it immensely.

"I'd rather be playing in front of a big crowd like this than in front of one man and a dog on a Monday in Chelmsford. Those with strong characters can come through and show people that this is what they play the game for.

"You have to use it as a positive and the Indian crowd during the Test series were very appreciative of good cricket. They are a knowledgeable crowd and they enjoy their cricket and we have no problems with it.

"There is also a lot of pressure on the Indian team.

They have a few young players coming in, they are expecting to win this game in front of a big crowd and we've got to make sure we put them under the cosh in front of their home crowd."

But Ganguly, who will be playing in front of his local crowd, believes nothing can prepare someone for a cacophony of noise which will remain constant throughout the day-night encounter.

"It will be an astonishing experience for the England players," said Ganguly, who made a secret visit to the tourists' warm-up match on Thursday alongside coach John Wright.

"You won't be able to hear yourself think because the crowd is so loud. It is something they will never have experienced before.

"It becomes a bit of a problem captaining in one of these games because the other players cannot hear you. You have to rely on hand signals, and it's the same when you're batting."

An attempt to prevent the match taking place tomorrow has failed, with the Kolkata High Court rejecting a injunction application made by a local resident.

Mr Subhas Dutta claimed that playing the match under lights was a "malicious waste of electricity" while West Bengal suffers with an energy crisis, but the court threw out his application.

Teams

England (from): N Hussain (Essex, capt), N Knight (Warwickshire), M Trescothick (Somerset), M Vaughan (Yorkshire), G Thorpe (Surrey), A Flintoff (Lancashire), P Collingwood (Durham), A Giles (Warwickshire), J Foster (Essex, wkt), D Gough (Yorkshire), M Hoggard (Yorkshire), A Caddick (Somerset), O Shah (Middlesex), B Hollioake (Surrey), J Snape (Gloucestershire).

India (from): S Ganguly (capt), S Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, V Sehwag, D Mongia, H Badani, A Ratra (wkt), S Bangar, J Srinath, A Kumble, A Agarkar, Z Khan, H Singh, S Singh.

Umpires: SK Sharma & K Hariharan
3rd Umpire: S Bandekar
Match referee: D Lindsay (Rsa).

Marcus Trescothick is a doubt for England's opening one-day international with India in Calcutta on Saturday.

The Somerset opener was sent back to the team hotel with influenza after keeping wicket in the warm-up match with Bengal.

Bowler Paul Collingwood, who took 3-18 in the low-key affair, is also suffering but it is Trescothick who is giving the England selectors the most concern.

Coach Duncan Fletcher told Sky Sports News: "He was pretty bad today after that exercise where he kept wicket and exerted himself. We had to send him back to the hotel, but hopefully he'll be ready for the first one-dayer."

Trescothick claimed a stumping and a catch in his new role behind the stumps, but although he was impressed with his performance, Fletcher admitted he would only be used in competitive cricket in an emergency.

He said: "We're not going to see Marcus Trescothick keep wicket at all. We just know in case of an emergency that he is capable of taking over from Foster if he had to pull out before a game.

"I thought he kept well. We wanted to give him a go and I thought it was nice the way he took the ball - he looked a natural behind the stumps having not kept wicket for some time.

"We wanted to use him in case anything happened to Foster on the morning of a match and we would feel pretty confident now of putting him in for a game."

Sky Sports News EXCLUSIVE, by Alex Sharratt

All-rounder Paul Collingwood has insisted that England will take heart from their performance in Eden Gardens as the tourists prepare for their second one-day international against India on Tuesday. 

Despite a superb Marcus Trescothick century, England were beaten by 22 runs in a controversial opener to their six-match series on the sub-continent in Kolkata.

Skipper Nasser Hussain claimed "cricket was the loser" after umpire SK Sharma adjudged Trescothick lbw to Javagal Srinath even though the ball clearly pitched outside leg-stump.

England were in an excellent position when Trescothick was given out and could even have gone on to win the match in front of 100,000 passionate Indian supporters in one of the world's most hostile cricket environments.

But despite some early butterflies, Collingwood told Sky Sports reporter Tim Abraham that the England tourists would learn from the Eden Gardens experience and will enter the second match in Cuttack "full of confidence".

"It will be great to go in to the second one-dayer off the back of that experience," Collingwood revealed on Monday.

"You always want to play in front of as many people as possible and playing in Eden Gardens was a dream and an occasion I will certainly remember.

"I am sure we're not going to get 100,000 in the stadium for this match, but it is a game we are looking forward to as we are disappointed we lost the other night."

England arrived in Cuttack, 200 miles south-west of Kolkata, on Sunday and will have just one practice session before the second game as their intense winter schedule continues with five ODIs being squeezed in to the next 13 days.

But while Collingwood admits the hectic schedule is far from ideal, the Durham youngster maintains that it is all part of England's build-up towards the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

"I think preferably we would like a little bit more time to work on things," said Collingwood. "I know personally I would like to work on a couple of things - I wasn't too happy with my performance the other night to be perfectly honest with you.

"I think everybody would like to cool down a bit, get over a few niggly injuries. But it is going to be like this for three or four weeks so we are going to have to get used to it. "This is what it is going to be like in the World Cup for example, so I suppose it is a good experience to get used to and hopefully learn from.

"Everybody went in to the first game very confident after the 5-0 win against Zimbabwe. We all had plenty confidence and we all went in to the match and showed it, wanting to score runs quickly at a run a ball and we were very good in the field as well.

"Hopefully we can take that confidence in to the next game."

India 281-8 beat England 259 by 22 runs
1st ODI, Eden Gardens

Nasser Hussain made a thinly-veiled criticism of the international umpires' system after a controversial decision cost England victory over India.

Hussain was left fuming when official SK Sharma adjudged that Marcus Trescothick was leg before to Javagal Srinath even though the ball pitched outside leg-stump.

The England captain appeared to question the wisdom of having two home umpires officiating in one-day internationals - a system which is due to be changed by the International Cricket Council in April.

"We're obviously frustrated by certain things," Hussain admitted. "It wasn't my team that was the loser today, the game did lose certain things out there and that's for the ICC and other people to look at.

"It was a great day's cricket with two sides trying their utmost and things happen, but we're not going to dwell on them.

"Decisions go against you, but it's not the end of the world and we just pick ourselves up and if we don't we will just cause ourselves problems.

"We have to get ready for the next game - the more we dwell on decisions, the worse this tour will spiral downwards. We have to look at the positives and dwell on the fact that we didn't finish off the game."

Hussain also labelled Trescothick's display as "one of the best one-day innings I've seen".

Trescothick said: "I've been on antibiotics over the last three days and I've got better and today there was a big improvement.

"I've been coughing a lot and I've been struggling to catch my breath in the last few days, but I was much better today.

"It didn't alter the way I played, but I was a little concerned about how I'd hold up after a couple of hours. But I was okay when I was out there."

England 250-7 (50 overs) beat India 234 (48.4 overs) by 16 runs
2nd one-day international,
Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
England level series 1-1

Alex Sharratt reports

England turned in a superb performance in the field to successfully defend a total of 250 and level their one-day series with India with a 16-run victory in Cuttack.

Nasser Hussain's inexperienced tourists brilliantly bounced back from their disappointing defeat in the first match on Saturday to shock the home side in a tense finish.

Victory looked unlikely when India reached 110-2 chasing England's modest total of 250-7, inspired by solid knocks from Hussain, Paul Collingwood and Michael Vaughan. 

But three run outs - including the unfortunate dismissal of the ever-dangerous Sachin Tendulkar - helped get England back on track and a disciplined bowling performance closed out the win.

India had begun their reply positively with captain Sourav Ganguly racing to 14 from 15 balls before trying one aggressive shot too many and edging Matthew Hoggard to Nick Knight at second slip.

Tendulkar and Dinesh Mongia then put on 79 for the second wicket to excite the vocal home crowd before Ben Hollioake deflected a drive from Mongia on to the stumps to run out Tendulkar at the non-striker's end.

Matthew Hoggard ended the innings of Mongia with an excellent throw to James Foster, before Paul Collingwood ensured VVS Laxman's innings would last just six balls with another superb piece of ground fielding.

The Indians hit back from their triple blow with wicketkeeper Ajay Rata (30 from 38 balls) and Anil Kumble (16 from 24 balls) to give the Indian dressing room hope of an unlikely victory.

But another promising bowling performance from Andy Flintoff helped keep the tourists on top before Darren Gough finally wrapped up the victory with his 150th one-day international wicket.

Earlier, England suffered another late-order collapse after Hussain, Collingwood and Vaughan had batted the tourists in to an excellent position.

Hussain and Vaughan shared a careful 69-run third wicket stand after England had slipped into trouble with openers Nick Knight and Trescothick both falling inside the first 11 overs after being put into bat by Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.

The captain perished when he lofted Ganguly to Ajit Agarkar running back from mid-on, but Vaughan played his finest one-day international innings to date and quickly teamed up with Collingwood to forge another crucial partnership of 62 from 79 balls.
 
But when Vaughan was eventually dismissed for a superb 63 from only 80 deliveries, comfortably his best score for England in this format, England failed to forge kick on and post the daunting total their solid start deserved.

Andrew Flintoff was bowled just two overs after Vaughan and Ben Hollioake fell in similar fashion to Anil Kumble leaving Collingwood with the responsibility of guiding England towards a bigger total.

He brought up his second international half-century, and third in four matches, in only 55 balls and despite Jeremy Snape also being run out after slipping going for a quick single, Collingwood battled on to finish unbeaten on 71 off 78 deliveries.

Sky Sports EXCLUSIVE, with David Lloyd

Former England coach turned Sky Sports pundit David Lloyd believes that India are now a side under intense pressure - and none more so than captain Sourav Ganguly.

After defeat in the first match on Saturday, England levelled the six-match one-day series at 1-1 with a convincing 16-run victory in Cuttack on Monday.

The hosts had looked well on course at the halfway stage as they chased a modest target of 251 before Sachin Tendulkar was run out backing up at the non-striker's end as bowler Ben Hollioake deflected a Dinesh Mongia drive onto the stumps.

Tendulkar's dismissal was one of three run outs in an excellent fielding and bowling performance from Nasser Hussain's men in another hostile and alien environment.

And Lloyd - part of the Sky Sports commentating team on the sub-continent - believes that the Cuttack victory gives England's young squad the advantage going in to the final four games of the series.

"It was very impressive to go one down in Calcutta and then come here and win," said Lloyd.

"You have got to understand how difficult it is to play in front of a partisan crowd in this heat and humidity.

"There is a lot of character, a lot of spunk in this England team and they showed it here.

"Tendulkar's dismissal was the turning point in this England victory. They deserved a bit of luck and they got it. He was playing beautifully, shepherding their innings and holding everything together as only he can.