Welcome to Howzat!, the free magazine from www.cricket-for-parents.com

This issue looks at the pros and cons of the LBW review system, the Women's Cricket World Cup, how to look after your new cricket bat, and the latest in cricket streaming.

LBW Reviews - Do They Appeal to You?

TV replays have been used successfully to help umpires with line-decisions for around 10 years, and have been part of the official test match playing conditions since 2008. Now, after years of ICC debate and media pressure, technology has been used to review LBW decisions, but not without massive controversy.

It works like this. The on-field umpire makes his initial decision on an LBW appeal, but this can be challenged by either the batsman or the fielding side. The TV umpire then reviews the path of the ball until it hits the batsman’s pad, then must judge if it would have gone on to hit the wicket. He can use slow motion replays and ball path tracking, but he doesn’t hear sound on the slow motion replay nor can he listen to the TV commentator’s opinion. He can only recommend change of the on-field decision if there is compelling evidence.

Of course, this is fraught with difficulties all round. Each side is only allowed two unsuccessful reviews per innings, so it’s a tricky choice on when to use a challenge. Then, the TV umpire has his own problems. First, he checks that the delivery was legal – ie, not a no-ball, and that it didn’t pitch outside leg stump. This is pretty straightforward, but then he has to judge the path of the ball after it strikes the pad, so there’s still scope for human error. This risk could be reduced if the TV umpire had access to the best technology like hotspot, hawkeye or snickometer, but sadly he doesn’t.

The review system was first trialled in test matches in Sri Lanka and New Zealand in 2008, then in the 2009 West Indies-England series. It has corrected some poor on-field decisions, but also caused massive debate. One school of thought says “don’t undermine the on-field umpire with technology”, but the alternative is for LBW reviews to be used properly to help him get his decision right. I think the reviews will have teething problems, but will work better if all the available technology is used. Of course, they only apply to international matches where the right hi-tech systems are available – the rest of us will have to stick with tradition.

The 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup

Women’s cricket is growing rapidly across the globe. More and more girls are playing the game at schools, and more women’s teams are playing in competitive leagues. The highest profile women’s event is the Women’s World Cup, which was held in England in 1973 – two years before the first men’s world cup. Since then, the tournament has been held 8 times, and won 5 times by Australia, the current world champions.

The 2009 Women’s Cricket World Cup takes place in Australia from 7 – 22 March. All the matches start at 2300 GMT, and most of them will be played in Sydney. Eight nations are represented, and began the competition playing in two groups of 4 teams. The best three from each group have just qualified for the “Super Sixes”, and the top two from this stage will meet in the final on 22 March.

Despite Australia being favourites, England and New Zealand are the only unbeaten teams so far. The standard of cricket is soaring, to the extent that Pakistan great Wasim Akram admitted being genuinely surprised by the quality of the top teams. Compared to the last World Cup, the seam bowlers are faster, the fielding sharper, and the quality of timing and stroke play are exciting to watch. And not least, the sportsmanship can teach the men’s game a few lessons. The crowds aren’t up to the numbers in men’s cricket yet, but over 1300 watched the Australia-New Zealand group match.

If you haven’t caught up with this great event yet, there’s still time to get involved with the second half of the tournament. There is world wide TV coverage; Fox Sports are covering every game live, and Sky and ESPN Star are showing selected matches. ESPN Star will also stream live matches on their web site, for free viewing in certain countries. You can find out full details of the broadcast coverage at http://iccwomensworldcup.yahoo.net/aboutwwc09/broadcast-coverage.html

Want to know more about women’s cricket? Visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/womens-cricket.html

Taking Care of Your New Cricket Bat

The old saying goes, look after your bat and it will look after you. This is true, as you can do much to prepare a new bat and to maintain an old one so that it performs well for more than just one season. To a large extent, the effective life of your bat depends on how thoroughly it has been knocked-in, but there’s no point in doing this until the bat has been properly oiled with raw linseed oil.

Water is one of your bat’s biggest enemies, as willow loses and absorbs moisture very easily, so the object of oiling is to maintain the bat’s moisture content by sealing its surface. This can take three or four weeks to do properly, so be prepared. Of course, this excludes parts of a bat covered with polyarmour or scuff covers. Using a soft rag, apply a light coat of oil to all exposed willow, apart from the splice which should never be oiled. Keep the bat horizontal for a couple of weeks, then lightly sand the surface with very fine sandpaper (00 grade). Repeat the process, after which the bat is ready for knocking in. After this, a rub with an oily cloth every two to three weeks will keep your bat in top condition. Finally, many junior players over oil their bats, which can be disastrous – its better to not oil at all.

Knocking in compresses the fibres of the willow so that they resist damage from a cricket ball. The best tools for this are an old ball or a bat mallet, and the process should take at least 6 hours. The most vulnerable parts of the bat are the toe and the edges, so concentrate on them. Some manufacturers claim that their bats are pre-knocked-in and ready to play, but this is never the case – another couple of hours work is still needed to bring a bat to peak performance. Then, gradually introduce your bat to a cricket ball, first hitting gentle catches with an old ball, then nets with an old ball, then nets with newer balls.

Next time I’ll talk about keeping your bat in top condition. But, if you want to know more about bats now, visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-bats.html

Latest Developments in Cricket Streaming

Watching free live cricket on the internet is one of the holy grails of web watchers. This has reached the point where “live cricket streaming” or similar is attached to the description of an unconnected web page, just to attract visitors. However, many web sites promising live cricket streaming just don’t deliver. Streaming technology is slowly improving, but free events are rare – for example, ESPN Star coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

On the whole you will need to buy a “cricket pass” or “cricket ticket”, to cover a selected package of live cricket events. This might be a test series, or a package of test and ODI cricket, or even a one year pass to a selection of international cricket events. The packages vary in price and content, to reflect the current fixture list. For example, a package showing the produced and interactive highlights of the first four Ashes tests and live coverage of the fifth test of the 2006-2007 series cost around US $20. At the other extreme is the current 12 month package from the market leaders, Willow TV, which is set at US$299. This covers the India tour of New Zealand, 2009 Indian Premier League, ICC Twenty20 World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and Champions League T20.

After moving forward a long way in 2006-2007, live cricket streaming hasn’t developed much in the last year. I feel that one factor limiting its development is the quality of online broadcasts, but the big issue is simply market forces. While the Cricket Boards can sell broadcasting rights for multi million dollar packages to the established major TV companies, most developing cricket streaming businesses just can’t compete. But, when the online quality improves and the demand grows big enough then we might see a shift in the market. Watch this space…

To find out more about cricket streaming, visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-streaming.html

Thats it for this edition of Howzat! Look out for the April edition, which will include features on the 2009 Indian Premier League season and more on caring for your cricket bat.

Until next time!

Best wishes,