By Anil
August 8 2005

The Aussies and English are tied 1-1 in another battle for the Ashes, and for a change the result does not appear to be a foregone conclusion. It has been a long time since England won a "live" Test against Australia, but in Edgbaston they did it, albeit with a wafer-thin 2-run margin on the back of what may have been a questionable decision.

New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden has been criticized for poor performance ever since he was inducted into the ICC panel. A jovial man who enjoys his cricket and presents an entertaining spectacle out in the middle with his eccentric ways, he has been incompetent in matches involving India and Australia, shockingly so at times.

The ICC have said they are reviewing Bowden's decision, presumably after a report from the Australian team management, but the outcome will not change. It could have been different if the umpire had reviewed the replay. However, poor umpiring decisions have gone equally against both sides in this match, so Australia has no reason to complain. Still, this is yet another reminder of why technology must be used to supplement or override umpiring decisions sooner rather than later.

Freddie Flintoff deservedly won Man of the Match with a scintillating performance with both ball and bat despite injury. He believed his side could win, and made it happen. Shane Warne collected 10 wickets despite his ongoing personal problems. The much-derided Ashley Giles collected key wickets on a pitch that seemed to take spin much earlier than expected.

Despite the exciting finish, the match was underwhelming in many ways. Both captains have underperformed, belying their reputations coming into the series. Michael Vaughan continues to fail, as he has ever since the Aussies arrived on English shores, while Ricky Ponting -- aside from failing with the bat -- has made several bad decisions on-field, including giving England the opportunity to bat first. Although he could not have anticipated that the pitch would deteriorate so quickly, it was a baffling move.

Warnes and Giles weren't complaining. Warne turned the ball square on day 2 with a new ball in the sixth over after Giles was surprisingly the most successful bowler for England, and 17 wickets fell in the course of the third day. Much-hyped fast bowler Harmison was expensive and wicketless for most of the match, although his opposite number Brett Lee made amends in the second innings with a 4-wicket haul.

Tailenders were among the best batsmen for both sides, and England came nerve-wrackingly close to squandering a big lead and losing the match to numbers 10 and 11 (Lee and Kasprowicz) who both hit forties under pressure.

Once both McGrath and Warne are out of the team -- and at 35 that can't be too far away -- Australia can be expected to slip quickly in the rankings. Most of the key contributors in the Aussie team are between age 33 and 35, and they must rebuild their team after this series.

However, it must be said that the Ashes have regained more interest from world cricketing audiences after this match. With BCCI and PCB squeezing every penny out of India-Pak rivalry with ridiculously frequent matchups, the level of interest has suffered there by comparison.

Indian Oil Cup

Slow strike rates from the top batsmen have dogged India's batting throughout this ODI series, but Yuvraj Singh demonstrated yesterday a genuine ODI innings for the first time against a weak Windies side missing captain Chanderpaul.

With good support from Kaif and Dhoni, despite poor efforts from the top order including Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid, and Laxman, a defendable score was put up by India batting first. However, a second-string Windies came surprisingly close to snatching a win in the last over.

Dravid's captaincy, although aggressive at times, has been unimpressive with a team comprising 4 specialist bowlers. He has allowed part-time bowlers to allow lower-order batsmen to settle down throughout the series, showing a lack of flexibility and readiness to adapt to aggressive batting. Against better teams than the current opposition in this ODI series in Sri Lanka (even Lanka is missing several key players), India could have not have survived. It remains to be seen if they can present a challenge in the final against Lanka.

New Zealand in Zimbabwe

As expected, New Zealand wrapped up the first Test more than convincingly: within two days by a very large margin.

However, it would behove the ICC to send a more neutral team of officials than they have done for this matchup. An Australian umpire, an English umpire, and under-fire English referee Chris Broad does not constitute a "neutral" panel against Zimbabwe by any stretch of the imagination. Given the high frequency of political rhetoric coming out of both countries, the ICC would have been well advised to use match officials from India, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, and Pakistan.

Although Zimbabwe would have lost either way, integrity of decisions made by officials is of the highest concern. However, the ICC has not let this issue worry them in the past, and it is unlikely to cause them much concern now. It is critical that all countries which make up the ICC work on improving the track record of the world body, and shake up the administration if they are incapable or unwilling to improve.