Chris Broad's Cricket World®

Controversial First Test ends with an SA win

2007-01-17T12:24:00.000Z

First Test - Centurian

Match day and the anticipation before any Test series is huge but between these 2 countries who have an intense rivalry and it’s at fever pitch. We agreed to meet up with the Pakistanis at their team hotel because they have a police escort and the 65kms we have to travel to SuperSport Park is easier to get to on a working day with a police escort.

The escort consists of 10 motorbike riders on high powered machines with lights and sirens going. What excitement when we pulled out of the hotel at 8.30am and these guys went to work stopping traffic, blocking off roads and generally just keeping everything well away from the coach party. The journey can take as much as an hour on some mornings but with our high speed companions we reached the ground in 30 minutes! I now know how VIP’s feel – spoilt!!!

All was set fair the weather was great, the pitch had dried out sufficiently and everything was fine when the captains and I went out to toss. Pakistan won it and decided to bat and Greame Smith wasn’t too bothered because he didn’t exactly know what to do. Well things turned out pretty well for Inzi and Pakistan as they weathered the new ball and set about building a first innings score. Both Hameed and Younis Khan got half centuries whilst Ntini picked up 2 wickets on an honours even kind of day as the Pakistanis finished on 242 for 5. As officials at the end of the day we were invited into a hospitality box adjacent to the umpires’ room. The box was run by Rudi Bryson a former South African cricketer who came to Surrey for one season in 1992 and now runs a hospitality business here in Pretoria. An enjoyable evening was had by all!

Mornings and evenings followed pretty much the same pattern for the following 3 days as the police guided us to the ground in the morning and Mr Bryson entertained us in his box in the evenings. The days cricket play was anything but predictable though!

South Africa fought back well in the morning of day 2 with Ntini picking up 3 more wickets totaling 5 for the innings, the 16th time he’s done that in his career. So Pakistan ended on 313, not a bad total and it got better when they picked up 3 quick wickets with Smith and DeVilliers and then Kallis going cheaply. Hasim Amla and Ashwell Prince steadied the ship to have them 254 for 4 at the end of the day. Honours just favouring South Africa at this stage!

The morning session of day 3 belonged to Prince and Hershelle Gibbs who both scored well to give a definite advantage to the home team. Their morning was only spoilt by the fact that Gibbs got out in the over before lunch, but they were in a very strong position at 356 for 5. It was then that the visitors came back at the Proteas as they knocked over the last 5 wickets for the addition of only 61 runs but Prince made an excellent hundred and they had a lead of 104 on a pitch with increasing turn and inconsistent bounce. There was some more good play by the visitors as it was their turn to weather the new ball storm and come through relatively unscathed. They were 12 without loss at tea and then 103 for 2 at the close with Farhat and Younis Khan both in the fourties and looking well set, more importantly they had all-but wiped out the deficit from the first innings. The game is evenly poised!

Day 4 was another fascinating one as first one side got an advantage and then the other got it back. The first session only produced 60 runs for the loss of 2 wickets which meant that Pakistan were only 56 runs ahead with 6 wickets remaining but importantly Inzamam-ul-Haq was still at the crease. Things got much better for South Africa after the break as Inzi, Faisal Iqbal and Kamran Akmal all fell leaving the visitors only 95 runs ahead with 3 wickets in hand. There then followed an interesting faze as Smith took the new ball hoping that that would hurry the demise of the Pakistani side, instead it hurried the scoring as the tail wagged very nicely. Rana Naved and Shahid Nazir took the attack to SA and no-one was spared their flashing blades.

Unfortunately as the day was coming to an interesting end a news story broke that soured all that had gone before because it was reported to me that a South African player had been heard over the stump microphone racially abusing some Pakistani supporters within earshot of the Pakistan captain who was batting at the time. It wasn’t clear who the culprit was until close to the days end when Herschelle Gibbs admitted to saying the words. There was frantic action by Cricket SA to try and lessen the impact and appease the Pakistan management who were understandably upset by the remarks.
The days play finished with SA on 65-2 needing another 130 to win but the focus had changed to the reported incident rather than what should have been the end to an exciting cricket contest.
When I got back to our hotel I received a phone call from the Pakistan manager, Talat Ali that they want to lay a charge against Gibbs. I went to their hotel and had a good chat with him explaining that Cricket SA were going to release a statement about the incident first thing tomorrow which would hopefully include an apology and possibly a charge against Gibbs.
I hoped he would agree to delay giving me the charge sheet until after he’d read the statement in the morning which he agreed to do.

The last morning of the match came and we were woken by a huge thunder storm at about 5am. This is not unusual in these parts but it was still cloudy and rainy when we left the hotel and arrived at the ground. Good I thought, this will give Cricket SA time to organise the statement, hand it to all concerned before play gets underway. Not a chance! After an hour of being there and nothing was forthcoming I phoned the media liaison representative who admitted to me that they were stalling for time. I know not why but the longer it went on the more complicated it became because the Pakistan Board were getting involved and the Australian media were interested, particularly as word was getting out that the incident occurred because the players were getting racially abused by some Pakistani fans at the game. This brought back the memories of SA’s tour to Australia last year when they accused the Aussie supporters of racial abuse.
Play started at 11.15 after some mopping up and SA got through to lunch just losing the nightwatchman Harris. In the mean time Cricket SA announced that it was holding a hearing into the allegations at 9.00am Tuesday morning the day after the game, but just before that it was announced the Pakistan management had lost patience with the home board and handed me a letter saying that they were going to charge Gibbs for the remarks. The plot thickened when I got a phone call from David Richardson saying that Malcolm Speed, our CEO, was laying a charge against Gibbs for the remarks.
In the end Mr Speed’s charge sheet came through first, so in fact it was ICC that charged the player and the hearing was held at the close of play which incidentally SA won by 7 wickets thanks to half centuries by Kallis and man-of-the-match; Hashim Amla.

Almost half the SA side accompanied Gibbs into the hearing which made things very cosy because I also had the Pakistan management and the captain in our small umpires’ room. There was a lot of frank discussion with SA defending their man but Pakistan saying how hurt they were by the remarks. After 45 minutes of chat and counter chat both side had just about finished so I adjourned the hearing so that I could get my head around what had been said and come to a decision. I made that decision after calling the players back to the room and I could get away from the fact that the remarks, however provoked were racial and were offensive to the Pakistanis. I was left with no option but to ban Gibbs for 2 Test matches. This is the worst part of my job because I was very passionate about the game when I played and I sometimes boiled over at instances that happened but this has to be stamped on as racial abuse, whether it’s player on player or crowd to player or player to crowd, must be eradicated.

I trust this will be the last we hear of this subject in this series and I hope Cricket SA take the case of crowd control very seriously because this is how the whole ugly incident began!

See you all in Port Elizabeth for the 2nd Test.
best wishes
Chris Broad

Back to South Africa for the Pakistan Tour

2007-01-11T11:45:00.000Z

Here we go again! Time to pack the bags, travel to the airport and fly into the great unknown of the world that is CRICKET!!

This time I’m going back to South Africa for the Pakistan series but I’m going via Nairobi in Kenya as the ground inspection I did last year needs a final sign off and I’m hoping it will be a sign off because they’ve had so much rain in those parts that finishing the outfield has been tricky.

The flight to Dubai was fairly uneventful. I left on the 8.20 Emirates flight from Birmingham which was only introduced last August and already is proving very popular, so much so that the flight was full! We ate the normal high standard of meal, the entertainment was excellent and I slept for a good 4 hours. The Dubai airport is nearing the end of a large building job to introduce a new terminal and it can’t come a day too soon, when I get past the security checks the terminal was full to bursting point. Even the lounge was jammed and I struggled to find a seat, no sooner had I managed that part when Ian Howell, the SA umpire noticed me and came over and said hello, he’s going to Australia to officiate in the One Day series there. So I told him with my tongue firmly in my cheek to favour the England side because they needed all the help they could get!!!!

I had 3 hours in Dubai before boarding my flight to Nairobi and the time flew by thanks to my meeting with Ian. The trip to Kenya’s capital was 5 and a half hours and even though I’d had some sleep on the flight from Birmingham I was still very tired so we were served a meal and then I settled down for another sleep. I thought it worthwhile because when I get to Nairobi it’ll be the middle of the day and I won’t be sleeping again until night falls.

It worked well, we arrived a little bit late at 2.35pm local time and I was met at the airport by the Chairman of Cricket Kenya, Samir Inamdar, who drove me straight to the grounds where I had to make the inspections. All was well, the rains had stopped long enough for work to be done and the inspection was a formality so then it was to the hotel for a shower and change, a few minutes rest then off to have something to eat before turning in for the night. It had to be an early one ‘cause my flight to Jo’burg was leaving at 7.35am so I had to up and about by 4.30!
I am a morning person but even 4.30am is too early, anyway all was well and I got to the airport and the plane left almost on time. It’s a 3 and three quarter hour flight from Kenya’s capital to South Africa’s but again it was a very good flight. Just minutes after getting in the air I saw the most glorious sight of Mount Kilimanjaro pocking its ice-capped peak through the higher level of cloud and when I went to my bag to capture the image on film I discovered the batteries were dead so that picture is only in my mind!

Jo’burg airport was also very busy when I arrived, I think a few planes had all touched down almost at the same time because it was a real scramble for my luggage but I was met at the airport, Billy Doctrove had flown in just before me so he was waiting in the car and we were then taken to the first of the many hotels on this trip to unpack our bags.

Tuesday was spent acclimatizing myself with the suburb of Sandton where we are staying. It's a lovely place not very far away from the centre of Jo’burg and with plenty of shops and restaurants to fill in those soulless hours when you’re waiting for matches to start. There was some talk when I was last in South Africa that for this match we might move hotels nearer to the ground in Pretoria but that hasn’t materialized and it’s not a disappointment as the hotel at Grayston is a good one. Wednesday is the day before the match and as always a visit to the SuperSport ground is on the agenda. There is a slight change to the itinerary as Steve Bucknor has to get a British visa from the High Commission so we diverted to the centre of Pretoria but then we were sent on a bit of a goose chase as we went from building to building to find the right one, which we did eventually.

When we arrived at the ground it was in immaculate condition! The sun was beating down, the pitch looked a bit strange and a bit damp but the sun is so strong in these parts that they have to put a fair amount of moisture in to make the pitch last 5 days. We watched the South Africans practice lightly in the nets, checked the facilities were all in order and then left. On our way back to the hotel both umpires Doctrove and Bucknor wanted to go to the shops so we diverted to a large Mall on the outskirts of Sandton and spent some Rand. I looked at a video camera and might go back and buy it but I need to think about it.

Our last duty of the day was the Captains meeting held at the players’ hotel the Sandton Sun. These meetings are designed to raise any points that officials, captains and managers want to before the games gets underway. They are generally fairly short affairs because there is not normally too much to discuss that hasn’t been discussed at previous meetings and the players don’t want to hear the same rhetoric time after time. There was nothing new to discuss so after about 15 minutes we adjourned to the bar for a pre-match drink before hostilities get underway tomorrow.

SA dominate India and I head home!

2006-12-07T10:50:00.000Z

The day night game in Port Elizabeth(PE) is the 4th game in the series of 5 between SA and India .

They start at 2.30pm which allows those who want to explore in the morning which is exactly what I did this morning with a visit to the beach for a swim. I’m not normally a beach person but PE is such a lovely looking seaside town and it was the most gorgeous day, blue skies and warm sunshine, it was too good an opportunity to miss out on. The sea was a bit chilly to begin with but once you’ve got past the initial wetting bit then the water was lovely and a good exercise to!!!

The game was a bit one-sided again with SA batting first and totalling 243-8 and India subsiding to 163 all out giving the home side an invincible 3-0 lead in the 5 match series. The Indians just can’t seem to get their tour going and when you lack a little bit of confidence it can make things a whole lot worse.

30/11/06 – Thursday and it was back to the town where it all began and that’s Johannesburg .

There is a Pro Twenty game on Friday night at the Wanderers and then the final match in the ODI series on Sunday at SuperSport Park in Pretoria . The flight from PE to Jo’burg takes about an hour and a quarter and was not particularly remarkable other than the landing at OR Tambo airport was a bit bumpy thanks to thunderous clouds in the local area. This is a problem in the Highveld where you get lovely sunny, warm days but there is a build up of cloud which leads to spectacular thunder and lightening storms in the evening. I had an invitation to the opening of a new magazine in Jo’burg this evening and the only real reason for going was because there was free Champagne on offer plus the fact sometimes we’ll do anything to fill in the days/nights.

1/12/06 – I woke up fresh as a daisy this morning that Champagne is good!!

I was supposed to be going to Pretoria today to inspect a couple of cricket grounds to see if they were fit for international cricket but my trip was cancelled at the last minute so it meant I was free to go and drop some washing off at the launderette and then go to the Wanderers with the boys which is near the United Cricket Board offices to pick up some tickets for this evenings match. Whilst there I’m told there are going to be dancing girls and boys, lots of loud music and some fireworks mixed into the party atmosphere and they’re expecting a sell-out crowd of 50,000 people. They do arrange a very good Pro-Twenty game for the spectators and although I’m not totally sold on the game itself it is certainly a spectacle!!

There was some threat of rain which might have stopped some people from coming to see the start but fortunately the clouds parted and the game got underway on time. Again the South Africans won the toss and decided to bat but the Indians, playing their first Pro-Twenty game bowled particularly well to restrict the home side to 126. Then Sehwag and Mongia got the tourists to within shouting distance of the total only for them both to get out but fortunately little Dinesh Karthik saw them home with an excellent 31 not out, their first win on tour and boy were they relieved and happy!!!

2/12/06 – Saturday was the last day of rest before the long flight home and what better way of spending it than on the golf course!

Neil Manthorp, who’s a local journalist, Alan Donald, Neil Johnson and I were to team up in a fourball and play at Royal Johannesburg Golf Club at 1pm. What a course! They have the most beautiful golf courses in this country because they have the ideal growing conditions with plenty of sunshine and lots of rain. The game was a belter! Neil J plays off a 5 handicap, Alan and I play off 8 and Neil M plays off 10 and it was Neil M and me against Neil J and Alan. Alan Donald hits the ball a country mile, on the stroke index 1 hole – meant to be the hardest hole on the course – Alan hit his drive 325 metres – that’s a professional golfers distance! Needless to say they won that hole but we held our end up because as they say it’s not about how far but how many! Manthorp and Broad won the front nine by one hole and Johnson and Donald won the back nine by one hole, so after 18 holes the match was halved. Great game one which we will have to repeat on another day!

3/12/06 – Sunday and an early start because our last ODI is a day game in Pretoria which even on a Sunday takes between 30 – 40 minutes to get to from Jo’burg.

6.45 am call then turn the telly on to see England going quite well against the Aussies in the 2nd Ashes Test from Adelaide , quick shower then breakfast and off to the ground. It was another gorgeous day with a predicted temperature of 34 degrees and sunshine all day long! Again for the 5th time in a row SA won the toss but this time they elected to field first and bowled well restricting the Indians to a total of 200. It could be enough if they bowled well, unfortunately for them G. Smith and DeVilliers put together a partnership of over 150 and the game was as good as lost within the first 20 overs. As it was they did manage to get Smith out but that was their only success and the home side ran out comfortable 9 wicket winners.

4/12/06 – The last day was a long day as I wasn’t due to be flying out until 7pm!

Billy Doctrove was catching an earlier flight because his connection in Dubai was better than mine would have been so I met him in reception at 11am to wish him a good journey then I went into the Sandton shopping centre to waste some time ostensibly but also to buy some lunch, there is a great food court in the centre that sells almost everything, I particularly like the Wrap Centre ‘cause they do a great selection of all sorts of wraps……….very yummy! I was being picked up at 4.45pm to go to the airport so the rest of the afternoon was spent reading and packing.
Karl Hurter was fifteen minutes late picking me up which was a worry as it’s rush hour in Jo’burg and driving in rush hour is not an advisable thing to do but he knew the back streets so was able to by-pass most of the troubled spots but I had trouble at the airport! I was at check-in an hour before the flight was due to leave which for business class passengers is the designated time, unfortunately I was told there were no seats left for this flight! I was shocked! The ticket had been booked and paid for but the airlines nearly always over book flights so that they make as much money as they can and then they allocate the seats on a first come first served basis.

It was not looking good for me for a while and I was anxious about getting on the flight but then the stressed groundstaff lady had a break when a first class passenger didn’t turn up for the ride so she gave the spot to me! All’s well that ends well and I thoroughly enjoyed my 8 hour trip to Dubai with First Class Emirates service all the way, having sampled the first class treatment it meant the leg from Dubai to London was a little bit of a comedown ‘cause I was only in business class but Emirates are a great airline and I enjoy travelling with them wherever I go!
That’s the end of this little trip but I am due to go back to South Africa for the Pakistan tour in early January so I look forward to talking to you then. Best wishes and seasons greetings for those that celebrate Christmas.

India in South Africa for their ODI series

2006-11-28T11:46:00.000Z

So nearly a week has gone by since I last wrote to you and we’ve moved from Durban to Cape Town.

Now onto Port Elizabeth on our journey around South Africa following the ODI series between SA and India. The match at Durban last Wednesday was a very one sided affair with SA winning the toss and making 248-8 in their 50 overs. Jacques Kallis getting an unbeaten 119 and then the home side bowled India out under lightsf or just 91.
When it gets dark here there is some additional movement around for the bowlers but that can’t be the whole story, there were some fairly indifferent shots played!

I woke the next morning very early because it was the start of ‘The Ashes’. I didn’t set my alarm clock or anything it must have just been an instinct that woke me and when I turned on the telly although Australia had won the toss England weren’t doing too badly and at 209-3 at tea it looked like a good day. Sadly it went downhill from that point onwards and when you lose the first game in a series, even in a 5 match series it’s a big uphill climb to get parity or even better.

Anyway, Thursday was a travelling day to the very picturesque Cape Town. The teams and officials were all booked into the Southern Sun Hotel at Newlands which is 5 minutes walk away from the ground and the feature of this hotel is the staff. I have never been to another hotel where they greet you like a long lost friend not in the sickly false smiley sort of way but in a very genuine caring sort of way, nothing is too much trouble!

The rooms are not the greatest but the staff more than make up for that with their attitude. I had hoped to play some golf whilst I was down there but with cutbacks by Cricket South Africa and a misunderstanding between myself and our 4th umpire nothing materialized so the 3 days before the match were spent without transport either walking between Claremont shopping complex and the hotel or watching re-run upon re-run of sporting action on the hotel TV’s –very boring! And then there was the debacle that was England rugby! Not a good performance and with the cricketers not doing well either it made for a disappointing Saturday night. At least the wine is good here in South Africa!!!!!

Still Sunday didn’t take too long to come around and it was a fascinating game with SA again winning the toss and batting but this time they found themselves in trouble at 74-6 but a magnificent 1st ODI hundred from Justin Kemp got the home side to a respectable 274-7 in their 50 overs. India also got off to a poor start and although Dravid held his end up by getting a good half century not much else came to the party and the tourists ended up being bowled out for 168. On top of that Dravid is ruled out for the rest ofthe ODI’s because he’s broken his finger!

And then it’s off to Port Elizabeth which is a lovely little seaside town on the East coast of the country, where the Garden Route, a beautiful coastal drive between here and Cape Town begins. The teams left early on the 9.30am flight, we travelled at 1pm and it’s nice not to travel with the teams because we tend to get lost in the adulation of the Indian team which they get wherever they go. I do admire them so because you never see any of them get agitated or annoyed when they’re buffeted by the huge support they receive, even the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid. In the evening Billy and I walk down to the Boardwalk shopping, restaurant and casino complex where we did a bit of everything, some less successfully than others!!!!

And today it’s ground inspection and golf at the very testing Humewood Golf Club where in just 3 weeks time they’ll be playing the South African Open – who knows if I have a good round I might just enter…………….NOT!!!!

South Africa take on India

2006-11-23T22:30:00.000Z

18/11/06 – Saturday and it's a gloriously sunny day.

Today is a day for meetings and inspections, the first inspection was at the Wanderers ground – The Bull Ring. It’s a hugely impressive place to play cricket and immaculately turned out every time I go there. Today was no exception! The game tomorrow is to be played on the same pitch that was used for that incredible match last season between SA and Australia, in these parts they are lovingly calling it the ‘438 game’! Everything is in order except that the South Africans were supposed to be training at the ground today but they never turned up so my umpires didn’t get an opportunity to stand in the nets and get used to bowlers and bounce and light.
England were playing South Africa in a rugby International from Twickenham, so that was a must see event in my book and I’d tried unsuccessfully to get our captains meeting delayed a while because it fell right in the middle of the match. No matter our meeting only lasted 10 minutes at the most so I was able to see England just squeeze past the Boks but it wasn’t a good game!
One of my umpires Brian Jerling was suffering from an ear infection so that was some concern the day before the game but he was on antibiotics and was confident that he would make it for the game, which he did.

19/11/06 - Sunday and game day.

Today is a day/night game and there was huge expectancy as there is at the start of every series. Both these sides hadn’t realised their ambitions in the recent Champions Trophy so both of them would be out to prove a point with the World Cup coming up early next year. The weather didn’t look great but everything was set fair until I started to walk out for the toss and then it started raining – drizzle at first and then proper rain.
We waited and waited until 7 o’clock before it became clear that the rain was not going to abate so the match had to be abandoned. Very frustrating as it always is when weather intervenes but there’s nothing anyone can do to beat the weather!

20/11/06 – Monday, well today is a travel day as our next game is in Durban.

We leave the hotel at 9 o’clock for a 10.55am flight from the newly named OS Tambo International airport in Johannesburg , named after the deceased ANC politician Oliver Tambo. It’s fairly smooth operation as Billy Doctrove and I travel with Brian Jerling who has done this journey many times during his time as an umpire. There is a slight delay on our departure due to slow baggage loading but it’s a smooth flight and we get upgraded to business class so the food is slightly better and the wine also!
Durban is a hot place with tropical weather conditions, which means that at any time a thunder storm can build up out of nothing and produce an almighty downpour. Today was overcast but the forecast was clear of rain. I made contact with some friends of ours, my wife spent some time in Durban during the 2003 World Cup and I’ve been here a few times as well and it’s always nice to get out of the hotel environment which is what happened this evening when I met up with 4 mates at a restaurant called ‘The Butcher Boys’ in Florida Road which is where a lot of good restaurants are in Durban.

21/11/06 – Tuesday and it’s another ground inspection day today.

Kingsmead has been hosting ODI matches here since December 1992 and the first match happened between SA and India. There is a huge Indian community here so the ground will be packed to the rafters so the inspection has to take into account the ground safety and security measures. The pitch has a little green grass on it which might suggest some seam movement but batting under lights also provides assistance for the bowling side so an interesting decision for the captain who wins the toss here tomorrow.
The afternoon is spent on the golf course with a mate of mine whom I played cricket with and against and who is now a first class umpire in the UK , Nigel Cowley. He’s over here coaching and ground supervising for a private school called Clifton college and he’s a tidy golfer playing off 5. Our third player is Ari de Beer, the anti-corruption officer for the ICC. We play at Royal Durban, a nice course that has hosted the SA Open but not for some time. After recent rains and a huge thunderstorm that woke everyone up at 4am this morning the course is saturated and there is a lot of water lying on the fairways but the greens and tees are good and I enjoyed the walk even if I didn’t win the money! The evening was again spent in Florida road at a place called Mo’s noodles a lovely rice and noodles place and for us Brits it’s so cheap. I had a starter and main coarse and shared a bottle of wine which cost me 150 Rand, at todays exchange rate that’s about £11!

Mombasa to Johannesburg in one easy step!

2006-11-20T12:38:00.000Z

15/11/06 – Leaving day from Mombasa .

I have to go to Nairobi tonight and then tomorrow inspect a couple of venues that Cricket Kenya want to use as International grounds for an upcoming tournament in January. That’s tomorrow but today is all about packing, paying bills and getting ready to play golf! I have a game organised this afternoon at Nyali Golf Club on the North shore of the mainland. It’s the best course in the area and I’m playing with the professional Jimmy Mbongo and one of the Chairman’s friends Vishnu Dhutia who is a very steady player. He and I play as partners against Jimmy and a friend of his – whom for this purpose we’ll call……….Bandit!!!! The guy played off 20 and shot 17 over gross getting 6 pars and a birdie to boot, we had no chance not that I’m a bitter loser or anything but this guy will be playing off single figures within a few weeks! Anyway I enjoyed the course and the company and should I go back to Mombasa I’ll certainly make a ‘B’ line for it again.
I had to rush after the game because my flight to Nairobi was at 9pm and I had to shower, close my case and meet up with my liaison who was getting me to the airport. No problems everything went smoothly and the flight left on time, it’s only 45 minutes to Nairobi and I was soon touching down. I was greeted by Tom Tikolo and taken to the Norfolk Hotel where I was staying for the night. This hotel is the oldest in the city and there are some parts of it that could certainly do with an upgrade but I was only there for one night so that didn’t bother me too much.

16/11/06 – Thursday.

Tom picked me up again to go and inspect these 2 grounds on opposite sides of the city. Both grounds had been inspected by Mike Procter last June but needed further inspecting because he recommended some improvements. Unfortunately not much had been done at either venues so I was unable to pass either of them but my hosts and I did come up with an action plan that may have them up to scratch in a few weeks……..we’ll see!
Time for quick bite to eat then off to the airport for my flight to Johannesburg and the start of the Indian tour! This is where the problems of the day started! I went to the check in desk and got asked for my Yellow Fever certificate which I didn’t have. This was partly my fault because I came to Kenya in 2000 for the Champions Trophy and must have had the jab then but I forgot to bring the certificate this time because I was only told the day I was leaving England that I’d be going on to SA. They refused to let me on the plane but they said I could get a certificate if I crossed the road and went to the first floor of arrivals where they would issue me with a replacement. Unfortunately this was closed! Back to check in for another suggestion, this time they checked me in and I was taken through passport control to another office where an in-house doctor would help me out. This she did but only after she’d given me a half hour lecture about the importance of carrying important documents and some currency had changed hands!!!! Well, this is Africa !!!
Time to board the plane and no sooner had we all done that than the captain came on the internal radio and told us we had to wait because a VIP was due to land soon! This VIP was the President of Kenya and it took 40 minutes for his plane to land, taxi into the terminal with his military escort and permission for us to be given the go ahead. There could be no more problems now surely? The flight took 10 minutes short of 4 hours and it all went smoothly. I did some work on my computer until the battery died and South African Airways looked after us very well. Now back at Nairobi airport I got chatting to a lady who was looking concerned for her friend because the authorities had taken her away from the boarding gate because she didn’t have 2 clean pages in her passport for the South African authorities to put their stamp in. 2 clean pages ……why? Anyway I saw her on the plane and sure enough her friend had not been allowed to board!
I hadn’t bothered to check my passport but I do a lot of travelling and sure enough when I got to passport control they picked up that I didn’t have 2 clean pages either. I had 4 or 5 pages with only one small stamp in one corner but they insisted they had to have 2 clean pages. OK send me home, I thought, this had been a bad day and I wasn’t going to argue any more. The guy went away to see what he could do and came back after 5 minutes to say he would stamp the passport but that I’d have to get a new one for future trips to SA. I’d made it through the most troublesome travel day I think I’d ever had! I was met on the other side of customs my Mike Gajjar from Cricket South Africa who took me to the Grayston Southern Sun Hotel in Sandton where I would be staying for my time in Jo’burg.

17/11/06 – Nothing much to do today as I’m the only official in town at the moment. My 2 local guys were involved with an Indian warm-up game last night and wouldn’t be booking in until the afternoon and Billy Doctrove, my Elite Umpire, wasn’t due to fly in until 11am so he would be catching up with some sleep for the rest of the day. I needed some shorts so a quick trip into the Sandton Shopping Centre was in order. This is one of the main shopping centres in Jo’burg it is also a little bit more expensive than the others because of the close proximity of all the major hotels in Sandton but it does have everything and as we are staying fairly close to the centre it seemed the obvious place to visit.

So what about the Ashes then?

2006-11-17T09:06:00.000Z

Ok so an England tour to Australia hasn't started too well! There's nothing new in that, I recall an England side back in 1986 who were told they couldn't bat, couldn't bowl and couldn't field, they didn't do too badly, did they?

I was disappointed in the news that Marcus Trescothick had to go home because of a recurrence of his stress related illness, he is a big loss to the touring party and I'm sure we all wish him well with his recovery. He has experience (74 Test matches) technique and oodles of ability to see off the new ball and that, to me, is the key to success against the Aussies. Getting 20 wickets is important to win matches in any country but in Australia if you don't get enough runs on the board then you won't be able to get the 20 wickets required to win games and the opening batsmen are key to getting enough runs. With fairly unresponsive pitches you need to see off the new ball without losing wickets and it's an opening batsmens job to make sure he sees off the shine and hardness of the ball so that the middle order can pile on the runs and build a big enough total for the bowlers to bowl at.

With Marcus now gone and Ed Joyce announced as his replacement it only leaves one recognised opening batsman in the party and that's Andrew Strauss. I imagine that Ian Bell or Alistair Cook will be asked to assume the responsibility of opening the innings and Bell didn't have a great run against the Aussies last time, Cook is only just beginning his Test career.

I can assure you that the Aussies will have taken note of that fact and be focusing their attention on getting into whoever is Strauss' opening partner. Should they come off, like Bill Athey and I did in '86/'87 then I think England have a great chance of retaining The Ashes and remember they only have to draw to do that!

Chris

Kenya complete whitewash of Bermuda

2006-11-15T12:24:00.000Z

14/11/06 – All parties woke up this morning feeling much better than the day before, just as well as it’s another game day today, the last of the 3! Sunshine greeted as we went for a light breakfast and it turned out to be another hot one – all 3 days have reached 32 degrees centigrade and the humidity is up around the 75%, not easy to perform whether you are an official or player. Kenya won the toss and batted with Steve Tikolo making a superb 100 in their total of 305 for 8. Bermuda in reply made a good fist of it reaching 206-6 with vice-captain Dean Minors getting a very good fifty unfortunately during the innings Maurice Ouma the wicket keeper was taken off after a ball from Steve Tikolo reared up awkwardly and struck him on the forehead, he was alright though after a while just another battle scar!!!! There was an official function in the evening put on by the Kenyan Cricket Association which was a nice way to end our stay in Mombasa and Kenya

13/11/06 – The lack of sleep and upset stomach meant that I had to pull out of the safari trip we had planned for today. I was disappointed as it’s always nice to get out and about and see some of the country I visit but the last thing I wanted was to be bouncing around on unmade roads with out a toilet close at hand so I spent the day not eating just drinking lots of fluids and trying to flush the bug out of my system. As it turned out it was a good trip to miss as both umpires told me they only saw 2 elephants and a few buck and the journey over the bumps was bone crushing.

12/11/2006 – Although back to back matches have been outlawed by Test playing countries as they regard it as too difficult for players to perform on consecutive days it is still the practice for Associate countries and both sides and officials have to start game 2 in this 3 match series today. Rain greeted us as we pulled back the curtains and the rain continued to pour for a good 2 hours but the beauty of playing cricket in Africa is that when the sun comes out it really comes out and before you know it the puddles on the outfield had evaporated and play was beginning at 11.30am with the game reduced to a 42 over game. Unfortunately Tony Hill my New Zealand umpire was not feeling too well having eaten something that hadn’t agreed with him the night before but he agreed to start the match. He didn’t last long though as after 5 overs he signalled that he was going to come off at the conclusion of his over. He didn’t make that either because as he was walking off the field he vomited not once, not twice but three times! Why is it that when someone in the sporting world suffers ignominy people always laugh at them! Tony was really struggling but he was brought off and the medics took a look at him and gave him some medication. When I went down to see him at the first drinks break he could see the funny side of what happened but he was still not well so he went back to the hotel to recuperate. Local umpire Gulam Kutub came on which must have been a very exciting time for him and he didn’t let anyone down making some very good decisions.
The game itself was won by Kenya who after losing the toss restricted Bermuda to 183 with Thomas Odoyo bowling his 9 overs with figures of 4 for 25, they then proceeded to knock off the runs for the loss of 3 wickets, Steve Tikolo and Tanmay Mishra both scoring 50’s, this of course gives the home side an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
With Tony Hill still not well Buddhi Pradhan my Nepalese umpire and I went out for a meal with the Kenyan Chairman Samir Inamdar. He took us to a beautiful fish restaurant on the north shore called Tamarind. It was spectacular, perched as it was just on the cliff over looking the sea and the food was excellent as well. We got back to the hotel at about 11.00pm and retired to bed but I didn’t get much sleep as I had a bad case of food poisoning and was up most of the night visiting the toilet. I can’t think the poisoning had come from the restaurant that night because it was so soon after the evening had finished that I fell ill but you never know!

11/11/2006 – Remembrance day back in the UK for all those who fought and died for us in wars around the World. It is a very sombre day for all who remember them! But whilst that was going on at home I am out in Kenya and it’s the first official ODI game between Kenya and Bermuda and the very picturesque Mombasa Sports ground. Kenya win the toss and decide to bat first on a slow and low pitch that, at the toss only looked as though it was going to get lower and slower! It was a struggle to get runs initially because of the pitch but also some tight Bermudan bowling and fielding. But some good batting by David Obuya and captain Steve Tikolo plus some late order hitting from Odhiambo and Ongondo saw the home side to a decent 224-7 in their 50 overs. The overrate was good by the Bermudans so we had a full 45 minutes for lunch and then it was the Bermudans turn to bat, unfortunately they weren’t able to match the discipline they showed in the field when some poor shot selection saw them lose wickets on a regular basis. Hiren Varaiya a 19 year old left arm spinner took 3 for 27 during his 10 over spell and duely won the man of the match award as the home side came out on top by 79 runs.
After finishing off the paperwork I have to do at the end of each match the members in the bar downstairs started to watch the England v Argentina rugby match that was being shown live over here on SuperSport television. I wish they hadn’t have been because England played very badly, nearly as badly as England cricket had played the previous day against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI. It wasn’t pretty watching as England were well beaten 18 – 25 and the locals weren’t shy in letting me know how well the Argentineans were doing! Not a good end to a very nice day but I did have a few beers in the bar to soften the blow!

Kenya and Bermuda Lock Horns in Mombasa

2006-11-11T19:03:00.002Z

8/11/06 - Well after a busy and sometimes traumatic week in cricket it’s back to basics for me with a trip to Mombasa on the Kenyan coast for an ODI series between Kenya and Bermuda .

Australia quite rightly won the Champions Trophy after a slow start where they lost to the Windies in the group stage they came back to give them a good hiding, as they did most sides in the Final. The Darrell Hair situation is a disappointing one for cricket as well and I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this story as Darrell is a very disappointed and angry man!

Anyway back to Kenya, I have to say it was a very uneventful flight I left the UK at 8.30pm which was a great time to leave as no sooner were we in the air, I had a quick bite to eat and then I was settling down for a good sleep during the 6 and a half hour flight to Dubai. Another 6 hour leg to Nairobi then a 3 hour wait for a connecting flight at Nairobi domestic terminal before an hours flight to Mombasa , our base for the ODI’s against Bermuda . It was going dark on our flight down so I didn’t get to see too much of the land below but it was vast and very desolate.

9/11/06 - The hotel, the Royal Court is right in the middle of Mombasa which for those of you who don’t know was an island in the mouth of a river with only one bridge to the North connecting it to the mainland that is until recently when a viaduct was constructed to accommodate the traffic from the Airport and the docks. The hotel is clean but basic and I’ve had plenty of time to explore its inner workings because it has rained for most of the day today and the forecast is not good for the rest of the week and into next week as well.

10/11/06 - Fortunately, no-one believes forecasters because I wake up this morning and the sun is beating down. It’s pre-match day and a ground inspection and captains meeting have to take place. The teams came in late last night after delays so the captains meeting is scheduled for 5.30pm but the more interesting duty is to go and have a look at the ground and see how much damage the rain has inflicted on the playing area. To our surprise there is very little sign that rain ahs been pouring for the last week. The groundstaff have done a magnificent job, there is a small area on one of the pitches that is a little bit damp but the rest of the playing area is ready and able to play.

The evening prior to the match is spent in the company of some of our hosts at the Gymkhana Club in town where we sampled some of the local curries and one or two of the Tusker beers.
A very convivial evening.

Chris - Waiting for action

2006-10-31T15:27:00.000Z

I'm waiting to go off again and referee for the ICC. Keep dropping in to catch up on my criket news.

The Australians take the spoils in Malaysia

2006-09-28T10:03:00.000+01:00

Sunday 25th and it’s the day of the final.

It’s also travel day because if the game goes the distance Asad, Mark, Marks wife Sarah and I will have to leave the ground and go straight to the airport to catch our flight to Dubai.
The morning was spent packing, paying bills and saying goodbyes to people in the hotel who had looked after us extremely well. An extra vehicle had been arranged to take our bags to the ground and wait the outcome of the game. Australia had won every toss during this tournament, the West Indies hadn’t won any, if I was a betting man I’d have put heaps on the Windies winning this one today. But I’d have lost because Ricky Ponting won the toss again for the 5th time in a row and again decided to bat first. It was tough going early on as the Windies bowled a good line and length and had a little bit of luck with one or two indifferent bounces – well it was the 5th game that had been played on this pitch and it was showing signs of wear. Again the Aussie middle order saved their side from a low score. Brett Lee got things off to a flying start with Gayle going first ball LBW and wickets continued to tumble- in fact it was only Sarwan and Smith who managed any respectable scores both ending up with 30’s- but the Windies were skittled for just 113, making the Aussies winners by 127 runs and DLF Cup Champions.
It had been a very well organised event. There were one or two hiccups which there are in any event but on the whole it was great as a venue. The teams played hard but fair and it was good practice for all teams in the lead up to the Champions Trophy. The Malaysian people didn’t embrace it as much as the organisers had hoped but KL is certainly growing in terms of cricket development so it must be encouraged with events such as this.
Because the match finished early there was no immediate dash to the airport required which allowed us to say our goodbyes and have a drink with everyone which was a nice way to wind down after the event. KL is certainly a place I would recommend going to and I hope I get the opportunity to go back at some stage in the not too distant future.
That’s it for now, see you the next time.

Saturday 24th

Our last free day before flying home. All the officials set off for the local shopping area – Times Square – and hunted for some bargains. KL does have a large variety of shopping to do. Electrical goods are always good value, we found a HP laptop that was on sale for 2500 Ringgits which is about £350, it was brand new and probably very good but with a lot of counterfeit goods around in Asia it was never easy to tell. Clothing was cheap as was food and shoes, in fact I ended up buying a pair of slip-on shoes that I didn’t really want but I couldn’t really resist. In the afternoon I’d organised some tickets for the guys to go upto the 42nd floor of the Twin Petronas Towers, it’s called the ‘bridge walk’ because there is a bridge that joins both towers together and the public are allowed to get up there for free and view the amazing scenery from a terrific vantage point. Unfortunately when we got onto the bridge the heavens decided to open and our view was cut to virtually nothing but it’s still worth the visit.

Friday 23rd

The penultimate game and whoever won it would play West Indies in the final on Sunday. The Aussies were favourites but the Indians had got out of jail against the Windies 2 days ago so they would no doubt come out fighting. Aussie won the toss and batted again (that’s the 4th time in a row that Ponting has won the toss) but they didn’t start very well. Hayden got 50 at the top of the order but it was left to Symonds and Hussey to give some respectability to the total by getting some runs towards the end of the innings. 214 was eminently gettable but there was controversy ahead as Tendulkar was given out in the 2nd over when the ball came off his shoulder. Mark Benson was the umpire and no sooner had he made the decision than he realised it was the wrong one. He walked over to his colleague at square leg Asad Rauf and told him that he was changing his decision he called Tendulkar back and then proceeded to explain his decision the Ponting who, although unhappy about it, realised that the right decision had eventually been reached. This was a very brave bit of umpiring by Mark, I know a lot of guys who would have just stuck to their decision even though it was wrong but Mark knew he’d made a mistake and went about rectifying it. He received very good comments from all concerned but it didn’t help Tendulkar because 2 overs later he was out caught at cover point and India’s man in form was back in pavilion. They kept losing wickets but a partnership between Dhoni and the recently recalled Dinesh Mongia looked as though it could take India home and into the final. Never underestimate the Aussies though and even though India only required 2 and ½ runs per over to win they kept the pressure on and the Indians cracked. It can be a problem for a lot of sides – winning against the Aussies – and it certainly looked as though the Indians lacked the confidence to get over the winning line even though they were within touching distance. Australia eventually won by 18 runs and they made it into the final to play the Windies on Sunday.

Thursday 22nd

Our last golfing day, the foursome of Dev, Greig, Rhodes and Broad had been reunited. We were due to play against 4 Aussies who were out in KL redesigning some of the courses and one of the courses they were working on, the KL Golf and Country Club, was the course we were invited to play on today. The Aussies had to work though so it was just left to our fourball to go off and enjoy the course. Dev and Rhodes played Broad and Greig and it was another very good contest. I think we’d all worked out each others games by now and whoever invented the golfing handicap did a fantastic job because although Dev and Rhodes won the front nine convincingly by 4 shots Broad and Greig came back on the back nine to require a win on the last hole to square the match. It was a long par 5 with the clubhouse some 500 metres away in the distance. Rhodes and Greig hit their tee shots into one of the many bunkers to the left of the fairway. Dev hit a massive drive but went left into the trees and I hit a shortish drive but landed in the fairway. Our second shots got us within chipping distance of the green and this is where matches are won and lost. Kapil Dev had rattled a few trees and eventually picked up. John Rhodes had blocked his third right of the green and had left himself with a tricky chip over a bunker. Tony was on the green some 40 feet away with a rollercoaster of a putt and I had flown just over the flag with a slick down hill putt about 12 feet in length. John had fluffed his chip and had taken 2 to get out of the bunker. Tony’s first putt ended up some 8 feet away and he missed the following putt, I had trickled my 12 foot putt some 4 feet past the hole but I now had an uphill putt which safely found the bottom of the cup. Winners of the back nine and a half in the match. I’d enjoyed my adventures on the courses over here and I’d enjoyed the friendship that the four of us had made because that’s what golf is all about, getting out having a bit of exercise and a good yarn along the way. If money changes hands then so be it but it’s only loose change so no-one loses a great deal.

Wed 20th

This time the Indians had to win against the West Indies to have any chance of going through to the final. We were back on the number 2 pitch again which had been successfully repaired by the groundstaff after a channel had been found on a length at the Southern end of the ground. They had thoroughly soaked the area and drilled holes in the pitch and then lifted and filled those holes so as to raise the surface to make it as flat as possible. They had done a great job but there was still a slight indentation which we all hoped wouldn’t make too much of an impact. India won the toss and decided to bat first but they didn’t make a very good job of it. Sachin got another fifty but there weren’t too many other significant contributions so the West Indies had a great chance of shutting India out of the competition. For some reason though the West Indians decided to re-arrange their batting order opening with Chanderpaul and Morton instead of Gayle. They allowed the Indians to make early inroads into their batting and if you allow a side to get on top in this form of the game they very rarely let go and this was the case in this match. Lara came in at number 9 and the Windies still had a chance of winning but they relied very heavily on Lara. He didn’t disappoint but unfortunately the rest of the side couldn’t stay with him so although they were only chasing 163 to win they got bowled out for 146 and India had given themselves a chance of making the final.

Tuesday 19th

Another golfing day for three of the foursome. Tony Greig, John Rhodes and myself played with a chap called Devin Raif at the beautiful Kota Permai Golf and Country Club some 20 minutes away from the hotel. It was another steamy day but buggies had been arranged so it was a little less arduous than it might have been but the course was tough. They had played the Malaysian Open there a few months previously and the fairways were undulating and the greens were slick and sloping so all in all it was a challenge. Tony and John played Devin and I and it turned out to be a great game with a putt on the last by me to half the match and end honours even.

Malaysian Tri-Series hots up!

2006-09-22T10:35:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 13th,
Day off today but there was no time for rest, Tony Greig, Kapil Dev, John Rhodes (ICC anti-corruption officer) and me had arranged a game of golf. We played at the Royal Selangor Golf Club which although they are doing some serious repair work to 18 holes of the course there was still 18 to play and they were in terrific condition. This course is not far away from the Traders hotel where we are staying and is open to non-members. It was hot and humid with some classic Malaysian rain showers during the round but they have shelters all the way round the course so we didn’t get too wet. Kapil is a lovely player off a 3 handicap, Tony and John play off 15 and I played off my Wollaton Park handicap of 8. Unfortunately, John and I lost to Kapil and Tony on the last hole.

Thursday 14th,
India were playing their first game of the series against the West Indies . India won the toss and decided to bat. This gave the great man Sachin the opportunity to bat on his return from the serious shoulder injury. It didn’t seem as though he’d been away as he blasted the WI bowling attack all over the Kinrara Oval for a magnificent 140. India looked in great shape to win the game as the second innings started but WI made a good start to their innings and at 20 overs were 140 odd for 2 when rain came. Now 20 overs constitutes a game in ODI cricket and the rain started exactly on 20 overs and it didn’t stop, under the Duckworth/ Lewis method WI won by 29 runs. It’s always a difficult way to end a game but I was warned that this is the monsoon season so it wasn’t unexpected. One win each for the Windies and the Aussies!
Today is ‘Chinese air force day’ (Fly day) and it’s another day of golf but this golf game is different because we’re playing with royalty! We have been invited to play at Saujana Golf Club by the Prince of this region Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Tan Sri Imran Ibni Tuanku Ja’afar , thankfully known as Tunku Imran or Pete to his golfing pals! There are 8 of us, a four-ball that has been organised by the prince and our usual suspects. Kapil played in the four-ball with the Prince so Devin Nair -who works for the McGirvan Media group- played with Tony, John and myself. It was a beautiful course (fact they’d played the European Tour Master tournament there some months earlier so you can imagine what it was like). The course name is Malay for big Cobra and there was a message on the 8th tee not to go into the hazard on the 8th and 9th hole because a big Cobra had been spotted earlier in the day. Needless to say we all aimed well away from trouble!!!! John and I got our revenge on Tony and it all ended with all of us sharing a beer in the 19th!

Saturday 16th,
India had to play Australia. The crowds had been disappointing for the first 2 matches but for this game it was a sell-out. Australia won the toss and as with all the other games they decided to bat first but it didn’t all got to plan as Australia could only muster 244. Ponting and Katich made fifties but it was a tough slog with some good bowling, particularly from Harbhajan Singh and Verinder Sehwag who both found some turn in this pitch. It rained just before the lunch break which caused a very humorous scene. There were 7 balls remaining of the Aussie innings and the TV crew thought that we would take lunch immediately and finish the 7 balls afterwards. In fact no sooner had the rain started when it stopped so the umpires decided to go straight back out again and finish the innings before lunch. We informed the TV director who then informed us that he had no cameramen at their stations because they were all in lunch stuffing their faces. The funny sight came when we saw 3 cameramen running to their positions, one of whom was still carrying his lunch!

The innings only lasted 2 balls before McGrath was out; I hope they didn’t get indigestion from having to balk their lunch too quickly! Rain was to play a big part in this match because no sooner had the Indian innings started than it rained again, forcing the players off the field. They came back a little later with a reduced target in 29 overs. This meant that they had to play some shots and this played nicely into Mitchell Johnsons’ hands as the left-armer got the ball in the right areas and picked up 4 wickets for virtually nothing to have the Indians reeling at 35-5. But the rain started again and the game was washed out. This no result left the Indians at the bottom of the table at the half way stage. Australia were top and the Windies just behind.
Sunday was a rest day. No golf either, although I had been asked to go to a local radio station -Radio 4- and take part in a Sports Talk programme. There were certain parameters to the interview, I would be able to talk about the Darrell Hair incident at the Oval, I wouldn’t talk about ball tampering and I wouldn’t talk about bowling actions. The discussion went well, we talked about my role as a referee, some of the more difficult situation I have to deal with and about this series. Tony got on his high horse about the prices of tickets for this series which I think he was right to raise. If the organizers are trying to attract people to support the game in this part of the world then the price of tickets has got to be set at a level which everyone can afford. $50 US is too expensive for a lot of people in these parts! Anyway the interview over it was back to the hotel. During our journey back I got a phone call from the organiser of the event who asked me to pop into his room when I got back to the hotel because he had something to discuss with me. Intrigued I went straight up to his room and he told me that there were plans to possibly change the starting times of the games in an effort to beat the weather and get more cricket. This was motivated by TV and Indian audiences, both Indian matches had been affected by the rain. There were 3 options:
1) To leave things as they were and hope the rain doesn’t fall
2) To move all the remaining matches to day games and start them at 10am in the hope that the game would be over before the rain comes in the afternoon.
3) Start each game at 1.30pm instead of 2.30pm. This would allow an extra hour should there be any rain.
After some discussion it was decided to go with idea number three but it still had to be passed by the teams. Brendan McClements -the Tournament Director- was left in charge of phoning the managers and running it passed them. This was done and everything was agreed. For the rest of the afternoon I met up with the umpires who were going shopping and seeing some of the sights of Kuala Lumpur . KL does have some wonderful shops and is a little bit cheaper than the shops back home, it was just great to see so many people out enjoying themselves on a Sunday, I am a great people watcher! I bought some shoes and a couple of DVD’s but was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. (don’t tell my wife!)

Monday and another game day played under these slightly different rules. We were greeted by a fantastic day, not a cloud in the sky and no sign of any rain anywhere, typical! It was a very exciting game today with Australia playing West Indies and as per usual Australia won the toss and decided to bat. They got into trouble losing early wickets but Hayden and Hussey set West Indies a stiff target of 273 to win in their 50 overs. The Windies got off to a slow start but when Lara got together with Gayle they got on top of the Aussies and it looked like there could only be one winner. Then the Windies had a middle order wobble losing Gayle and Lara, the latter being caught off the back of the bat whilst going for a hook! But Bravo saw them home with some controlled stroke play and the odd huge hit. This result put the cat amongst the pigeons as far as the Indians were concerned because the Windies had now won 2 games and were guaranteed a place in the final which meant the Indians had to win both their remaining games against West Indies and Australia to have any chance of getting into the final themselves. Very interesting!!!

The International Triangular Series- Kuala Lumpur

2006-09-15T12:39:00.000+01:00

Off we go again!
This time I’m off to Kuala Lumpur to officiate in the tri-series between India, Australia and the West Indies.

I board the Emirates flight from Birmingham which is relatively uneventful until we get close to Dubai . I have had some of their lovely food on the plane, watched Mission Impossible 3 with Tom Cruise which was OK and were getting ready to land in Dubai when we were told that there would be a diversion due to. We diverted to Abu Dhabi which was only about 20 minutes flying time away from Dubai where there was no fog and glorious sunshine.
1 hour 30 minutes later we finally got the all clear to fly to Dubai, we landed, went through security and had about an hours wait in the lounge before boarding a flight to Bangkok and then onto Kuala Lumpur. I was meant to meet up with Mark Benson -the elite panel umpire from England- whilst in Dubai but there was no sign of him so I assumed that he’d got caught up in the fog problem and missed the connection to Bangkok. Anyway I couldn’t worry about that as I had a plane to catch and a tournament to attend.

The flight to Bangkok was 6 hours but I was told, just after we took off that I would miss my connecting flight with Malaysian Airlines when we get to Bangkok because we are running 2 hours behind schedule. There was nothing I could do until I got to Bangkok so I wasn’t going to worry. I sat next to a lovely Australian couple who were just returning home after a safari holiday in Africa. They were cricket fans and were very interested in my trip to Malaysia and obviously very interested in the upcoming Ashes series, as most people in the cricket world are!
I watched a film called End Game which starred Cuba Gooding Jnr. It was a very good a thriller. That filled 90 minutes and before you knew it we were landing in Bangkok.
I was greeted by an Emirates representative who confirmed that I had missed my connecting flight and that they were going to put me up for the night in a local hotel. The next flight to KL was not until 12pm the next day. Oh dear I thought, I was already running late because of staying in Nottingham to watch my son, Stuart play for England at Trent Bridge and now I had a further delay which meant I wasn’t going to arrive in KL until late afternoon the day before the 1st match! I informed the ICC of the delay and also the tournament director in KL, there wasn’t much more I could do until I reached KL. The next problem I had was that Emirates had somehow managed to leave my golf clubs back in Dubai and again there wasn’t another flight coming in to Bangkok until after I’d left to go to KL the next day so I had to fill in the obligatory left luggage form giving a description of what the bag looked like and then left the airport for the Amari Airport Hotel.

I managed to get a reasonable nights sleep and had a hearty breakfast in the bustling hotel and no sooner had I finished eating than it was time to head off to the airport for my flight to KL. The flight left exactly on time which was a first - there is a golf course right in the middle of the 2 busy runways of Bangkok International Airport . There were 4 holes going out and 4 holes coming back with the rest of the course lying right underneath the flight path. I would need earplugs to play that course, but very unique I suspect!
KL is the most beautiful place, so clean and tidy but hot and we are holding this tournament right in the middle of the monsoon season. We are staying in a beautiful hotel which has only been open for 2 months called the Traders Hotel right in the centre in KL. The famous Twin Towers are just outside my bedroom window and they are gloriously lit every night. There is a huge shopping mall just 10 minutes walk away and it’s not only got shops but loads of restaurants as well. I met up with all three of my umpires Asad Rauf from Pakistan, Tony Hill from New Zealand and Mark Benson who had missed the flight in Dubai. I managed to get a reasonable night sleep which was needed with a game coming up the next day.

12th September- game day.
Australia were playing the West Indies in the tournament opener. I went to the ground early to check on the facilities and aside from one or two teething problems all looked well for a good game. The teams arrived at 12.30pm for a 2.30pm start. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. I won’t go into too much detail except to say that West Indies were cruising the game until they had a late order collapse of 7 wickets for about 27 runs, something they won’t be proud! But as the game finished and Australia won my day was just beginning!

Ricky Ponting was charged with ‘dissent at an umpire’s decision’. Now the game finished at 10pm, by the time I’d written out the charge sheets and informed the player and his manager it was 10.45pm. The meeting was held at 11pm and lasted about half an hour, and then there was all the paperwork that needed to be done and the emails to be sent and in some cases re-sent. All in all I didn’t get to bed much before 1.30am and I was ready for sleep at that time but could I switch off……..!

Broad on Broad

2006-08-31T11:29:00.000+01:00

Great excitement in the Broad household this week as my son Stuart was selected to play for England in the ODI series against Pakistan.

There has been much speculation and newspaper talk about his prospects for some time but for it to have actually happened now is unbelievable and gives us a great sense of joy and happiness.

Stuart was playing at a rainy Wantage Road ground in Northampton when the squad was announced. He'd had a call from the chairman of selectors a couple of hours prior to the press announcement but he had to keep that quiet, except for close family. I'm sure the assembled media must have twigged as my wife and I and grand parents turned up at the ground well before the announcement time. It was great to be there to see the size of his smile!

Then on Friday his mother and I, along with Stuart were invited to London to attend the Cricket Writers Club Dinner. Stuart was presented with the 'CWC Young Player of the Year' award. This award goes back some 50 years and is a very prestigious award as so many great players have
won the prize. A few of those greats were there that night and it was great to seen David Gower present the silver inkwell trophy to Stuart. David conducted a little interview with him, although the content of the interview left something to be desired as he was mostly taking the mickey out of me!!!

Monday, the International Twenty20 match couldn't come soon enough and sure enough Stuart was selected to play. All the family were in Bristol - one of my old stomping grounds - to watch. England didn't do terribly well with the bat only mustering 144 but they had a chance after Stuart's 2nd over in which he got the wickets of Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan in consecutive balls. Then in came Shahid Afridi! He is an unpredictable batsman but his talents are well suited to the Twenty20 format, sure enough in only a few swift strikes he had won the game for Pakistan. One shot off Stuart ended up out of the ground going over the long boundary, it was an amazing hit!

The next stop was Cardiff for Stuart's first official ODI.
All England players are now numbered and Stuart is the 197th player to have played One-day cricket for England. They have used a lot of players in the last 20 years (I was number 91) and I hope he remains in the side for some time to come. It was a cold and rather damp day for his first match and again England didn't bat particularly well but managed to scrape past 200 thanks to Ian Bell who made 88. A last wicket partnership between Darren Gough and Stuart put on 29 which was great to see. I have never been so nervous watching a game of cricket! I was playing every shot for him, trying to get him off the mark and hoping that every ball didn't get him out. In the end he made 8 not out which was very pleasing…… but I've got to learn to relax!!!

Then came the rain and I thought it was set in for the night so I said my goodbyes and set off home to Nottingham. 45 minutes into the journey they restarted the match but it only lasted 7 overs as the heavens opened again. Pakistan ended 46-1 and Stuart got Shoaib Malik out LBW again. A draw was not the result we wanted but under the circumstances England must have been very happy as they haven't won an ODI in 8 matches!

Rain, foreign controversy and then home!

2006-08-29T10:47:00.000+01:00

21/08 – Monday,

As I walked into the breakfast room everyone was talking about the ball tampering row to which I had no comment. Dravid had left Colombo during the night and the rest of the Indians were leaving at about 4pm that afternoon. Most of the Sri Lankan players had left and gone back to their homes but Tom Moody and Trevor Penny, the coaches were having breakfast before they too moved out. I had some tv work to do for the ICC. They are using umpires and referees in 30 second tv slots to explain some of the rules and regulations in the Code of Conduct booklet that everyone is governed by. A very good idea but it meant getting a shirt and tie on in 30 degree heat. I haven’t seen the finished article but I thought it went OK! Ranjan Madugalle was also there to do his bit and we ended up having a chat about all things cricket and in particular what happened at the Oval.

The rest of the day was all about packing and paying bills, returning the phone which the home board supply to all referees for official use and saying farewells to those people I’ve had dealings with during the past 2 weeks. My flight was scheduled to leave at 2.30am so after watching a bit of TV in the hotel the car arrived to take me to the airport at midnight. Sri Lanka ’s airport is fabulous, they have obviously spent a lot of money in upgrading it over the last couple of years and parts of it look brand new.
The flight did indeed take off on time and the 4 hours it took to get to Dubai was spent trying get some sleep. The 7 hour flight home was again highlighted by a good adventure movie. This time it was a Michael Douglas film called ‘The Sentinel’ and it was all about a spy in the US secret service. He eventually gets his man but there were a lot of twists along the way. We made it back to Birmingham almost on time and the great thing about coming back to the UK during summer time is that you don’t need a coat to protect you against the weather. It’s always nice to come home and today was beautiful flying through the fluffy clouds seeing the green fields below. Home sweet home!!

20/08 – Sunday, today was a new game.

Unfortunately nothing had changed with the weather. We didn’t rush to the ground this morning; the teams had told me that they were not going to travel until we’d given them an update on the conditions. We arrived at the ground at about 9.30am and the condition of the outfield was unchanged, it might even have been a little worse. With yesterday’s words of the groundsman still sounding in our ears about the amount of time the outfield needs to dry, it was decided that we would come back at 12.30 for another look. As I was leaving the field, Tony Greig who was there commentating for Ten Sports called over to me and asked me if there was any truth in the rumour, emanating from India that the series was about to be cancelled! I told him that I’d heard nothing and I was able to confirm this after I had talked to the Indian team manager who said that he was unaware of any decision like this.
There was some good news three hours later. We had had some sunshine and the outfield was drying but it still needed a little more time. No sooner had we decided that a game would be possible at 4pm than another black cloud appeared on the horizon! Another day had to be abandoned.

Back at the hotel a little over an hour later I had a call in my room from the Indian manager saying that the Sri Lankan board are now discussing with the BCCI about cancelling the series because of the awful weather. They would make an announcement at about 6.30pm. I phoned Duleep Mendis (SL CEO) and he confirmed that this is happening. There was great excitement that this series may be put out of its misery.

6.30pm came and went with no news. I tried Mendis’ phone and it was switched off. There were lots of Indian journalists in our hotel waiting for news. I was not being consulted at all which was upsetting; eventually we all heard that an announcement was due from the Sri Lankan board at 7.30pm. It had been agreed that this series was to be cancelled and rescheduled at some time in the not too distant future. Relief for everyone - players officials, media, supporters- who were all getting very tired of this awful weather. Billy and I had a very quick supper together before he ran off to pack and I went back to my room to watch some of the England Test. Little did we know what was about to kick off!

Ball tampering is an emotive phrase within cricket and to see what was unfolding at the Oval was both disappointing and intriguing.
I sat for 2 hours watching the television coverage which was being beamed live from the UK and listening to Gower, Botham, Hussain, Lloyd, Raja and Atherton all give their views on the position of the match, most of which were that Darrell Hair was wrong. Whatever you say about the decision the fact is that if they saw evidence of tampering they had to act. If they saw evidence of tampering then they followed the laws of the game to the letter and as I write, although the game has been forfeited for the first time in history we still don’t know the outcome of the charges that have been brought against Inzamam-ul-Haq over this matter.

19/08 – Saturday, More rain.

Another depressing picture greeted me as I pulled back the curtains this morning- the game today was not going to re-start on time!
After breakfast the PCT left the hotel at the normal time (8.30am) for the 5 minute drive to the ground. About 150 young men had been drafted in from the local area to come and help deal with the draining. These kids got paid about 300 rupees for each day which is the equivalent of about US$3. They were given a free t-shirt and a hat and they all seemed very happy to be out there in all weathers helping as much as they could.
The large plastic sheets could cover not only the square but the whole of the outfield as well. If the covers were dry they could be cleared from the ground in 45 minutes but if the covers had water lying on them, as they did most mornings it would take 1 and a half hours to clear the field.
Eventually all the covers were off, Billy and Asoka checked the uncovered field. There were 2 areas of the outfield which concerned them. Both were on opposite sides of the pitch but both were extremely soggy. The grounds-man informed us that he thought it would take at least 3 hours of sunshine for them to dry properly. It was warm and humid but no direct sunshine was popping through the clouds which meant a long wait. After much deliberation it was agreed that the minimum that ICC rules would allow was that this match had to be abandoned. As if to celebrate this decision the heavens opened and we all got wet as we headed for our transport back to the hotel.
The rest of the day was taken up with some swimming in the pool – well if you can’t beat the weather!!! – and watching the Test from England where Pakistan were very much on top!

More rain effects play

2006-08-21T09:43:00.000+01:00

18/8/06 – Friday, today promised much as I pulled back the curtains.

I was greeted with sunshine bursting through my window so I went down to breakfast with my match day kit on. I saw Rahul Dravid in the breakfast room and told him that I’d spoken to the groundsman and he reckoned that play could start on time. Dravid then pointed out to me that rain was now falling outside and it was getting darker and darker. Sure enough it rained heavily; we went to the ground with heavy hearts only to have our worst fears confirmed that there were huge puddles all over the ground. We decided there was no point staying and that we would reconvene at 12.30pm. It was remarkable what the ground staff had done, no puddles a few damp patches but the umpires Billy B and Asoka de Silva decided play would start at 2.30pm. At last some play after a week of inactivity which seemed like a month! But our hopes were dashed just 3 overs into the contest as another huge black cloud appeared on the horizon and deposited its load all over the SSC. Very frustrating but you can’t beat the weather so it’s back here tomorrow to see if we can at last get a game of cricket in!

17/8/06 – Thursday

I woke up late this morning and after breakfast logged onto the internet in my room to discover that Stuart had been chosen as the ‘Young Player of the Year’ by the Cricket Writers Club of England. This was another proud moment for me as both myself and Stuart’s mother had been invited to the dinner where he was going to receive his award and because of the change in fixtures I would now be able to make it. The rest of the day passed relatively quickly because I was flying around on ‘cloud 9’, but I did visit the new ground that we’d be playing theODI matches at (the Singalese Sports Ground) and then I came back to the hotel to watch England playing against Pakistan in the 4th Test at the Oval.

16/8/06 – Wednesday, it’s a Day/Night game today.

Sri Lanka are due to play India for the 1st time in this series. I had Breakfast at the normal time but it’s wet again so the PCT decide to go to the ground at 11am for an early inspection. The Premadasa Stadium has had just about enough rain for the moment. The sun is shining but the ground is very wet so we decide to return to the ground again at 2.30pm for a further inspection. The inspection was not required because it rained again so today’s play was called off.
Billy Bowden had found a jewellery store just down the Galle road from the hotel. Qudsi Jewels is nothing to look at from the outside but inside it’s an Aladdin’s Cave. Sapphires are a speciality in this part of the World and I have always been taken by glinting jewels and sapphires are my birth stone so I ended up doing some business with Mr Qudsi.
I got back to the hotel to hear a rumour that South Africa were going home! It didn’t take long before the rumour to be confirmed. They had had an independent security revue which suggested that there were doubts over security. I was a little disappointed with the security revue because, as far as I was aware, no-one from the revue company (based in Dubai) had come to Sri Lanka to see the situation for themselves. However the SACU had rightly accepted the decision and decided to pull their players out of the tournament and out of the country. Nothing stands still for long in these parts, within the hour and with sponsors and TV to think about the Sri Lankan Cricket Board had come up with an alternative plan which involved a 3 ODI series between India and SL, which was accepted and due to start on Friday the 18th August.

Cricket takes a back seat.

2006-08-16T11:19:00.000+01:00

15/08/06- Tuesday

I was woken at 7.15am by a phone call from Sudath Pasqual, the umpire and referees manager for Sri Lankan cricket. He told me that the game between Sri Lanka and South Africa had been called off because the South Africans were not happy to play. They had some issues with security and were not happy to continue in the tournament. Ironically, as I pulled back the curtains it was the most glorious day with almost clear blue skies and hot sunshine, just what the ground needed so that it could dry out. Unfortunately there was not going to be a game today!

The PCT met at breakfast and I had a number of phone calls to deal with in which I was trying to find out the South African position for myself as well as talking to the Sri Lankan board who were trying to arrange some cricket a least.

After languishing in the hotel for the rest of the morning I decided that I had to get out. I needed a pair of jeans so we went to a couple of shopping centres that our local liaison officer knew about. Firstly we went to the House of Fashion which is situated in Duplication Road. Very popular with the local families for all types of clothing for all the family. Very cheap, I didn’t buy any jeans but I bought a polo shirt for 550 rupees which is about £3. Then we headed off to a slightly more up-market centre called Odel which is opposite the Town Hall. Again I looked for some jeans and they had a large selection but I could find a pair long enough to fit my 6’4” frame. The prices were still fair, for example a pair of Levi 501’s would cost 5050 Rupees which would be about £30.
The evening was spent at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel just down the road from the Taj where we were staying. I had a lovely fish supper with a few beers and some wine and it cost me 4000 Rupees which I reckon was about £23.

14/08/06 – Monday, Match day.

On pulling back the curtains all was not well! Heavy rain had fallen during the night and there was still some drizzle in the air.

We all met at breakfast and decided that as this was a day/night match which was due to start at 2.30pm. The Playing Control Team (PCT) would go to the ground early to find out what the prospects of play were. We left the hotel at 11.30am to go to the Premadasa Stadium. When we arrived it was not a pretty sight for cricket fans. Most of the covers were still on, there were large puddles still sitting on the covers. The covers had been pulled back in some areas which revealed some very wet and soggy outfield. There was no chance of play so with a reserve day allowed for this tournament the umpires called todays play off, hoping that we would start promptly tomorrow.

When we got back to the hotel we decided to go and have some lunch. At just after 1pm we all heard a loud explosion of some sort – although Billy Bowden thought it was thunder!
The fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamils had shown signs of increasing, so there was a lot of speculation about what the explosion was. Sure enough it didn’t take long for news to filter through to us that it was indeed a bomb that had been aimed at the motorcade of the Pakistani High Commissioner as he was driving past, which was only 3kms from our hotel.

We were told to stay in the hotel until an assessment of the situation could be done and then we would be told what was going to happen. Now this had ramifications for the tournament because on the last day of the 2nd Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa another bomb had gone off, so this was the second in 2 weeks. The initial thoughts were that Sri Lanka and India were happy to continue with the event but that South Africa had had enough and were ready to take the next plane home. Those thoughts didn’t change for the whole of the day even though there were various meetings and phone calls that were meant to rectify and clarify the situation, the South Africans remained pessimistic.

13/08/06 – Sunday

The final day before the tournament, we continue to have rain.
It has rained everyday since I arrived and the forecast is for the rain to continue for the next week. Let’s hope they’re not right!

The morning was spent recovering from the excitement of Leicestershire’s Twenty20 Cup success of the night before. Breakfast over and it was back to the room to do some work on the computer for the captains meeting which was due to be held at 6pm. I made a couple of phone calls home to speak to my excited wife and to my very excited but extremely exhausted son after his exploits on the field the day before. He said it was the best day of his short cricketing life and that they didn’t get to bed much before 6am! Well you have to party after a victory like that! He was very pleased.

Before the captains meeting I like to get together with all the umpires for the series and find out if they have anything they want to discuss with the captains. We met at 5pm and the group included Billy Bowden, Peter Manuel, Asoka de Silva and TH Wijewardena all of whom I‘d met on my previous visit here in 2003. We also had the 4th umpires come to my room so it was quite a squeeze!
There were some good points raised so with those in mind we headed off to meet the captains. A captains meeting is designed to cover rules and regulations, any new initiatives the ICC have brought in and anything that the captains want to discuss in front of the other participating nations. This is so that there is complete clarity when it comes to match days. These meetings don’t usually last very long, on this occasion we were through in half an hour. Sri Lanka, South Africa and India were all looking forward to getting in some early season match practice, provided we could get some play!

Off to Sri Lanka for the ODI Series

2006-08-15T18:26:00.000+01:00

10/08/06 - Departure day for the ODI series in Sri Lanka.

I wake to find out that all British airports are on the highest state of alert that there is which is causing chaos and disruption, just the news I wanted to wake up to – NOT!

I’m not supposed to leave the house for the airport until later. I try, unsuccessfully, to find out what the situation is like at Birmingham airport. I get a call from Emirates Airline (the ICC’s carrier), although there are extra security measures in place and some delays I am to report to the check in desk on time.

The car arrives at 11am to take me to the airport so it’s goodbye to Miche, my wife and Meg, my dog.During the journey I found out that my son, Stuart, has been announced in the England Champions Trophy squad of 30. A fathers pride knows no bounds! I don’t now care how long the delay at the airport would be, I would be smiling from ear to ear!

I had to check in all my baggage onto the aircraft which meant I had no hand luggage, but that didn’t bother me as I bought a book to read and some batteries for my camera in Duty Free. Our Emirates flight left almost on time at 2.30pm bound for Dubai and having done this trip many times I was looking forward to sampling the delightful cuisine and the fabulous entertainment system on board. The food was excellent and I watched a film called ‘Inside Man’ starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. If you like thrillers with a twisty turning plot you’ll love this film! A brief 2 hours sleep made the 7 hour flight pass without me knowing and we were soon disembarking from the airport at a steamy Dubai.

There was a 3 hour wait for my connection to Colombo, I spend that time in the Business Class lounge, catch up on some emails and have a bit more food.

I boarded the flight for the 4 hour trip to Colombo, as we were leaving the plane I noticed Ranjan Madugalle, our Chief Referee -who was also on the flight having spent a day in Dubai having officiating in 3 Tests of the England/ Pakistan series. It was nice to catch up with him as we don’t very often see other referees. After a few brief words and the exchange of phone numbers it was time to head off to the hotel, the Taj Samudra on the seafront in Colombo.

11/8/06 – Checked in. The hotel is full as the Indian and Sri Lankan teams are here with 78 Indian journalists! The South Africans are in a hotel down the road. Made contact with Billy Bowden the ICC umpire officiating during the first 4 games of this series and then went to bed to catch up on some sleep.

12/8/06 – Met Billy at breakfast at about 9am, chatted for about an hour whilst enjoying some cereal and toast. Sri Lanka is a great place forgem stones and in particular sapphires. Billy was very keen for me to come and have a look at some as so after a morning on the computer we met at 2pm and went shopping! There are 3 ways of going Gem shopping in Colombo the first is getting into a Tuk Tuk and let the driver take you to one - they are generally on commission so you won’t get the best deals. You can also ask at the hotel, they generally have shops attached which are still relatively expensive. However if you know someone you can trust you’re on to a winner, the great thing about cricket is you get to know the locals who point you in the right direction. This was our story and the shop we went to was full of the most gorgeous stones at very good prices. I was never going to buy at the first visit but I couldn’t drag Billy away, he was almost acting as a shop assistant, thumbing through every stone he could, talking to the owner and generally being Billy.

A ticket for the game the on Monday got us to the most beautiful Buddhist Temple called Gangaram which means River Temple. They have an elephant standing to welcome you a magnificent sight with a pond full of Koi Carp and the most magnificent treasures and statues, they claim to have the ‘smallest Buddha statue in the world’ you could only really see it through a magnifying glass which they had and it certainly was tiny. We met some monks who gave us a guided tour and then gave us a blessing – there’s a war going on here between the Tamils and the government – so I thought we needed all the protection we could muster! It was excellent.Then it was back to the hotel for a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of the series.

Lots of people there, not my scene really as there were a lot of journalists invited. I kept getting asked about bowling actions so I made my excuses and left. But there were more important things to do....

My son, Stuart and his Leicestershire colleagues were on TV playing the Twenty20 Cup semi-final. As we’re 4½ in front of the UK over here the match started at 4pm local time. I missed the first 45 minutes of the game but caught the last of the Leicestershire innings. They set Essex a fairly stiff target of 174 to win. Leicestershire managed to win quite comfortably with Stuart getting the danger man Ronnie Irani out early for nought, it was a job well done. Stuart and the Leicester boys were in the final which wouldn’t be shown until 11.40pm local time, but I wasn’t going to miss it!

The other semi was between Nottinghamshire (my old side) and Surrey. Nottinghamshire won, it was an all East Midlands final.

Leicester again won the toss and batted and set an imposing target of 178 to win thanks largely to Darren Maddy who finished unbeaten on 86. Nottinghamshire got of to a good start thanks to Stephen Fleming and David Hussey but with Stuart getting Hussey out and Fleming falling as well, Leicester were in the driver’s seat. There was still some tension to come but Leicestershire wouldn’t be denied and they were crowned Twenty20 champions, let the party begin!!It was 2.30am in Sri Lanka when the game finished but I was soo excited I couldn’t get to sleep for a while. What a proud Dad I felt, wishing I could have been there to join in the celebrations for my sons first major cricket trophy.

Oh well the lot of a Match Referee I suppose!

Cricket World welcomes Chris

2006-08-10T15:28:00.000+01:00

Chris Broad, ICC Match Referee and former England opening batsman, has joined Cricket World® as Media Consultant.

“It’s great to have Chris on board” says Alastair Symondson, Editor of Cricket World®. “He has a wealth of experience, as a player, coach and currently as an ICC match referee”

Chris Broad, known for wearing his heart on his sleeve on the field, played for Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire and England. “I’m thrilled and delighted to be involved” says Chris, “not only on the magazine side of things but also with the website. The reporting of cricket is expanding as fast as the game and I can’t wait to be a part of that”.

Chris has become a key member of the ICC match team. “As a match referee I am the ICCs representative. I am there to make sure that anything wrong – from an unsatisfactory pitch right through to poor food- is rectified. My priority is to keep the game moving and that is at the core of the match referees criteria”. Recent issues such as bowling actions and over rates have kept match referees on their toes.

Away from the stress and controversy of the International game Chris is an eight handicap and man about the house; “Golf is something I’m very keen on, it keeps me fit and apart from walking the dog it’s the only exercise I really get”. Although Chris retired from the game in 1995 his son Stuart is carving himself a name as a rising star in the county game, “I dedicate a lot of my time to watching my son play”.

Watching his son play has not tempted Chris back to the crease; “I don’t miss playing in the slightest, the body told me enough was enough and I haven’t missed playing since. I do miss is the camaraderie of the dressing room though; the banter between team mates is unique. But having said that the umpiring community has a great spirit and we get on really well.”

Chris is off to Sri Lanka on the 11th Aug for the ODI series with South Africa and then it is the champions’ trophy.

Chris Broad

2006-08-09T22:59:00.000+01:00

Chris Broad was a exciting cricketer. After struggling to gain appropriate recognition at Gloucestershire Chris moved to Nottingham, where he was selected for the England Tour of Australia in 1985/1986 in which he famously scored three consecutive centuries, 162 in Perth, 116 at Adelaide and 112 in the Ashes-winning innings victory at Melbourne.

He played against Pakistan in 1987 and then scored 116 in Faisalabad in the winter. At Christchurch later that winter, he made 117 v New Zealand. Chris scored 54 and 16 in the opening match of the series against the West Indies in 1988. He returned for the first two Tests against the Australians in 1989 before he joined the rebel tour of South Africa that winter. That ended his Test career with a record of 1661 runs from his 25 matches, averaging just shy of 40.

Chris is currently an ICC match referee and enjoys watching his son, Stuart, rise through the ranks of English cricket. Stuart was recently named in Englands Champions Trophy squad and has high hopes of playing in the forthcoming Ashes.