Test championship system `stupid': Waugh

SYDNEY, MAY 22. The world Test championship introduced this month is ``stupid'' because every Test should count, according to Australia's captain Steve Waugh. The championship, based on a model pioneered by cricket publication Wisden, was introduced this month to impose a clear league table for the sport at the top level in a bid to win back fans.

It will award two points for a series win and one point for a series draw but one-Test series are ignored and a 3-2 series victory is given the same weight as a 5-0 whitewash.

``I wouldn't think it (``dead'' Tests going unrewarded) would leave it open to match-fixing, but I think it's stupid,'' Waugh told reporters at Sydney airport on Tuesday.

``We pride ourselves in every Test match being special and what's the point of playing if they don't count for anything? ``They still count for our personal pride and the team. I must admit I haven't looked at the championship specifically and seen how it works, but I'm surprised those Test matches don't count, they should count.

``That's what it's all about, that's why you're the number one side, because you can perform I guess when other people don't expect you to.''

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has drawn up a starting table based on recent results rather than beginning from scratch. Australia recently won a world record 16 consecutive Tests and is ranked number one despite losing a series 2-1 in March in India.

The championship, involving the 10 Test-playing nations, began with the England-Pakistan two-Test series which started last week.

Waugh said the packed cricket calendar might force countries to adopt four-Test series, rather than five.

``Four Tests might be the most convenient number, I don't know,'' Waugh said.

``With five, you definitely sort out the best team.'' The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive, Malcolm Speed, said the ACB had considered playing two five-Test series against South Africa home and away, starting with five Tests in Australia at the end of this year.

Mr. Speed said the workload for the players would have been too much and Waugh agreed. ``Five here and five in South Africa is pretty much ridiculous,'' Waugh said.

``Ten Tests in a row against the same side and I think you're on automatic pilot by about the seventh Test, I don't think too many people would be watching it, you've got to keep it special and not overdo it.''

Waugh said if the ICC were to introduce any technological advances aimed at assisting umpires they should be tested at the lower levels of the game.

The ICC's cricket committee is meeting in London this week.

Mr. Speed said the ACB supported technology provided it improved the game and introduced a level of certainty while Waugh did not want the game to become ``too Americanised'' with each decision being referred to a video replay.

``If they've got the technology to show where a ball has carried for a catch then use it, but I think at the moment it's unclear and it's caused more controversy than the issues that it solves,'' Waugh said. Meanwhile, Waugh said he would welcome the release of the ICC's report on match-fixing, whatever its contents.

The first report by the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit, which has spent six months investigating how match-fixing took hold in the sport, is due to be released on Wednesday.

``We want to know what's going on and people want the game cleaned up,'' Waugh said. ``So the sooner it comes out the better.'' Australia's one-day squad will fly to England on Saturday, while other Test players are due to leave in mid-June for the three-month Ashes tour which ends in late August.

The five-Test series starts on July 5 after a limited overs competition involving Australia, Pakistan and England.

Australia plays host to New Zealand and South Africa for a total of six Tests between November and January. - Reuters

ACB and Ansett in new

sponsorship deal

SYDNEY, MAY 22. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to a new five-year sponsorship deal with Ansett Australia, the country's second-largest airline.

``The multi-million dollar agreement, which covers the five seasons from 2001-02 to 2006-07 inclusive, is one of the largest financial commitments the ACB has ever received from a sponsor,'' the ACB said in a statement.

The ACB said the new deal was an extension of Ansett's association with Australia's home Test series since the 1996-97 matches against the West Indies. - Reuters

Australia to opt for a balanced attack

SYDNEY, MAY 22. Skipper Steve Waugh said on Tuesday that Australia was unlikely to place the same emphasis on pace in the upcoming Ashes tour as Pakistan and England did in last week's Test.

Pakistan played five fast bowlers and England four at Lord's, where England won by an innings in three days' play.

``I think we prefer to go in with a balanced attack, no matter what the conditions are,'' Waugh said.

``There's always going to be a stage where a spinner is going to come into his own in a Test match.''

That player is almost certainly leg-spinner Shane Warne, who has taken 58 wickets in his two previous Ashes tours. In 87 Tests he has been Australia's highest wicket-taker with 376 at an average of 26.62. But his figures against England underline his supremacy.

In 18 matches against England he has snared 87 wickets at 24.28, including one 10-wicket match haul and four five- wickets in an innings.

But Australian chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie had given Australia probably its best pace attack for years.

Waugh admitted that England's seam attack of Darren Gough and Andy Caddick plus batsman Graham Thorpe, coupled with a new toughness in difficult situations, would make England a tough proposition.

England has not beaten Australia since Mike Gatting's side took home the Ashes from its 1986-87 tour. But England has won its last four Test series before last Sunday's crushing win over Pakistan.

Waugh said that result was not surprising as England was at home and playing very well while Pakistan was under- prepared and had a tendency to travel poorly.

``But having said that, England is a very good side at the moment. Gough and Caddick have got something special happening with the bowling and Thorpe with the batting,'' Waugh said.

``So it has got three players doing very well all the time and the others are moulding around them and it has got a good team unit, camaraderie, and the players are a lot tougher than I think they have been in the past.

``So this will be a very good Ashes series and very competitive and we're going to have to play very well to win it.''

Waugh said in comparison with the past England sides he had faced, the current line-up had the ability to get out of tight situations.

``England has proved that in the last 12 months and it has won two series on the sub-continent, which means it has got to be a really together team,'' the Australia captain said.

``It can't sort of just rely on its natural skill and ability which it has always had, it has always had a good team on paper, but I think this time England has got a good team spirit and its coach has done a good job and the players seem to be very happy together and are all pulling in the same direction.''

Waugh felt Australia would be more comfortable in England than Pakistan. ``We've probably got a better time of the year, it's going to be the warmer climate and the wickets would probably be a bit flatter.''

Asked whether he thought seamer-friendly pitches would be prepared for the series, Waugh said he felt there should be ``good cricket wickets'' so the best side won. - AFP

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : BCCI buys more time with TWI
Next     : Villy keeps Tamil Nadu in the hunt