Umpire Steve Bucknor....

At the age of 63 , I imagine , he should be retired, enjoying the Carribean beaches or spending time with his grandchildren. Well , no such luck. He is still umpiring , giving away terrible decisions of important players in crucial situations which could change the whole course of a match . He is very consistent at that. Consistent with bad decisions , I mean. Maybe the word ' consistent' is the only thing that the ICC considered to extend his retirement age. The official age of retirement for Umpires is 60, though that could be extended in particular cases regarding the merits of a particular Umpire. Mr.Bucknor is one such 'particular Umpire' . God knows what his merits are .!!

I don't know if he is biased or is it just a co-incidence that he stores his best ' bad decisions ' for India , but what I know for sure is he has fallen from grace nowadays because of his consistent inconsistencies . After the recent 'India-Australia' test match at Sydney, he has certainly become the Sacred Cow.

Infact , I heard one of the Cricket experts say - ' India will have to take 13 wickets & lose only 8 wickets in an innings to win a test match if Mr.Bucknor is in business '. My addition to it - ' You also get a fine for 'racial abuse ' or ' over appealing ' or some silly reason , to make it a package ' .

Another quality of his that makes my BP levels rise is that he gives a silly smile after making a terribly wrong decision , suggesting that the decision he made was so very obvious . Everytime he does that , my TV screen is in danger .

It'll be funny to say that he's had a personal effect on me - ' I get a fine for 'Racial Abuse ' at home everytime he makes a ' Hair Raising ' decision ..!!!

On A Lazy Sunday Morning...!!

It was 9 am on a Sunday Morning , when my dad was watering the plants and mom was busy in the kitchen . Me "Mr. Lazy" and my sister ,who is lazier than me were still lying on the bed. Though I was awake, I had so many thoughts passing through my mind that I just could'nt make the 'Walk To The Bathroom ' . It was nearing 9.30 am , which was when i made up my mind that i would get out of it . My sister was still snoring away in deep sleep. Wondering how she could manage to do that , I headed straight to the Bathroom .

I was back into the Hall after my brushing to have a glance at the newspapers .My Dad, by then had finished watering the plants though he was busy with something else . He gave me a stare which suggested that - he was doing all the work and i was sitting idle on the sofa reading the newspaper like a senior citizen . I expected a comment or two from him regarding this , but luckily for me he dint say anything but i knew it was just a matter of time . My Mom came with a glass of milk for me & sat beside me . Then came my Dad . He asked me - "When are your exams ? "
I said - "A month from now . "
Dad - " I met my friend Mr. Ravi yesterday . His son Rikki is also doing engg and he has scored 76% in his previous semester . "
He gave a 'Sherlock Holmes' look and asked " How much did u get ? "

He knew my result , but then I knew this was coming . I said "69%"

Dad - " Is that enough ? "

Infact nothing is enough. I said "NO".

By now I knew what he meant to say & it was - " You Idiot , you have one month to go for your exams & you get up so late & now reading the newspaper like a retired officer ". He was kind enough not to say it that way though . Actually , I really get pissed off when they start comparing me with anyone. But I cant help it.

I was actually planning to start studying seriously from Monday . But it dint matter if I told them now. So , I proceeded towards the study table & started working out problems . I will be in no mood to study theory just after i get such a dose.
My Dad then switched on the T.V to watch a live cricket match , " India V/s Pakistan " , which did no good to my ' Problem Solving ' . Anyways I continued on . Meanwhile my sister woke up . As she is younger to me, she will remain ' The Small Girl ' of the family & will be pampered & pampered and will not have any of my problems.
I felt like bashing the wall to pieces when my Dad asked her " Did you sleep well ? "
What a question for a girl who slept for more than 10 hours .!!. But remember , she is ' The Small Girl' of our family.

An hour passed by & now it was breakfast time . Mom had prepared ' Rava Idly ' which is one of my favourites . I took all the time in the world eating those Idlys as the cricket match was interesting , or rather India were playing well. My mom usually never gives me breakfast before my bath. But then i had the knack of convincing her. After wandering around the house for more than half an hour looking very busy but doing nothing , I went for the Shower.

As I was coming out of the bathroom, I was only hoping for the day to get more interesting, atleast by evening. But I could'nt visualize any such thing happening as ' Monday Blues ' actually start setting in by Sunday evening only. Little disappointed by this and wondering how our Indian Cricket Team plays well only during my exams , I got back to the study table for some serious study . Really Serious.!!

A Few Interesting Facts In Cricket....

# A match between Barbados and British Guyana in 1946 saw an over with 14 balls in which there were no wides or no balls ! The 8 ball over was in force and the extra six deliveries were due to umpiring miscounting !!!

# SUNIL GAVASKAR was so ill tempered that his parents had to take him to a psychiatrist to check up if there was something wrong with him.

# In a test match in Faisalabad in 1997-98 ,Mushtaq Ahmed was bowling to Pat Symcox.Symcox missed the ball,which went on to knock the middle stump.However,the heat had fused together the bails and they did not fall.Symcox went on to make 81,his second highest test score..!!

# SHAHID AFRIDI used a bat borrowed from Waqar Younis to score the fastest century in a One-Day International.!!

# FOUR STUMPS !!!! -- An experimental game was played at Lords in 1963 to look at the effects of adjusting two features of cricket : the size of the wickets and the LBW rule,in order to create a wicket of width 11 inches rather than 9 inches,four stumps were used in that trial match..

# The only law of Cricket that has not had any changes or modifications,is the length of the pitch..

# Which style of play is known as 'MANKAD'? -- The running out of a non-striking batsman who leaves his crease before the bowler has released the ball is calle 'MANKAD, It is named after VINOO MANKAD , an Indian bowler,who used this method controversially,in a test match.

# It was a county match in 1946.After two overs had been bowled,Len Hutton,who was fielding at slips asked the umpires to check the length of the pitch.The check discovered that the pitch was 24 yards lng instead of 22! Then the match was restarted on a correct pitch.

# Sachin Tendulkar is the first batsman to be dismissed (run out) by using the television replays by the third umpire, Jonty Rhodes was the fielder. Next day,in the same test match,Jonty Rhodes was given run out by the umpire.This time the fielder was none other than Sachin Tendulkar.!!

# During a County match in 1986,a batsman hit the ball and ran three runs but dropped the bat in the process. The bowler picked up the bat. When the ball was returned from the boundary,the bowler stopped it with the bat ! For fielding the ball with any other substance than the person , the penalty is 5 runs. So the batsman got eight runs in that ball.!!

# Which cricketer faced the first ball in One-Day Cricket??Geoff.Boycott was the one who faced the first ball in One-Day cricket. Graham Mc-Kenzie was the bowler.

# In a World Cup Match in 1975, Gavaskar batted throughout the 60 overs & scored only 36 runs . India lost to England by a huge margin of 203 runs.

# In the first ever Test in 1877, Australia beat England by 45 runs. 100 yrs later,in the Centenary Test ,the result was exactly the same.!!