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A cricket reporter or columnist is able to mix business with pleasure and on the face of it, appears to be a good life. But with cricket now being played round the clock, a certain cricket fatigue is bound to set in.

Since the England-New Zealand Test series was being played at what is for us, ungodly hours, I chose to sleep through it. Yet some mysterious force woke me up and rather than toss and turn in bed to get back to sleep, I switched the television set on.

Nathan Astle was batting and I stayed glued to the television set. I have seen Viv Richards at his best and have pitied the bowlers. All that was missing from Astle was the swagger of Richards and his ferocious chomping of chewing gum. Otherwise, Astle's innings could have been Richards batting in the disguise of a fairer skin. He got to his double century off only 153 balls to break Adam Gilchrist's record set only a week ago.

This was not slogging by any means. It was clean hitting and the shots he played were cricket shots. He hit Andrew Caddick for three consecutive sixes, the last of which was a straight hit, up, up and away went the ball clearing the boundary, the crowds seated in the stand and the high roof of the stands.

For all we know that cricket ball went into orbit. It was never found and had to be replaced. Set to make over 500 runs, New Zealand lost the match by 98 runs. I rubbed my sleepy eyes in disbelief.

But what and advertisement for Test cricket as has been the Durban Test match between Australia and South Africa. At close of play on the third day 34 wickets had fallen on a perfect batting wicket, fallen to both pace and spin and some stunning catches. This has been Test cricket at its best.

Of course, we have a special interest in New Zealand because Pakistan will be playing against them first, at Sharjah and then in Pakistan, the tour, after some false starts is now confirmed. There is question mark over Chris Cairns who has broken down once again. There are quite a few on the New Zealand injured list including their exciting new fast bowler Shane Bond who was such a revelation in Australia.

But New Zealand is a team that does not depend too heavily on its superstars. It has become one of the finest outfits in cricket and leave no doubt in anyone's mind that the players combine, treat cricket as a team game and play with great spirit and exuberance. I hope that when we see them in Pakistan, our own players will be inspired to emulate them.

Pakistan's defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the Asian Test Championship still rankles with the cricket public and as was to be expected the team as well as the captain and coach have come in for a lot of flak. Even the PCB chairman has indicated that he is not amused. But every cloud has a silver lining.

The Test players who were inclined to give domestic cricket tournaments a miss are now playing in the one-day championship and none more enthusiastically than Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq. Perhaps, the message has reached home that no one can take his place in the team for granted. As is, by now, traditional a training camp has been set up and a list of probables announced for the Sharjah tournament.

I am not at all convinced about the utility of such training camps. The camp seems to be a glorified practice session. Much better that the team should be selected and they undergo some intense training with the accent on fielding. There should also be team discussions and videos of the opposing teams should be seen and discussed. I could be wrong but I have a feeling that there isn't too much group discussion which could explain why there is the perception that Pakistan go into a match without a plan.

I am sorry to see the question about the legality of Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action has been re-opened. Apart from bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Murali has been cleared and has been bowling without having his bowling action questioned for quite a long time. Cricket has not yet recovered from the match-fixing scandal. We don't want the game lumbered with another row. I think cricket doesn't need unnecessary controversies.

The Sri Lankans have responded with outrage. I remember a conversation I had with Gary Sobers a long time ago and he rattled off a number of bowlers who he felt 'chucked'. Charlie Griffith's name was not on his list and I asked him why not and he said that Griffith did not 'chuck'. A clear case of one man's meat being another man's poison. I think we should get just on with the game and should not rake up the past which has no relevance now.

I am surprised that there is no Pakistani on the list of ICC's panel of umpires and some countries have more than one. Frankly I am surprised to see David Shepherd's name included. He may have been a good umpire once, in the days when it was automatically assumed that English umpires were the best in the world but I think Shepherd is a bit past it now and time has caught up with him.

If, by some divine law, England had to have two umpires on the elite list, someone younger and more alert could have been picked. Incidentally, does this also mean that there will be no Pakistani umpire supervising the World Cup 2003 matches?

Finally, we will have to wait and see what the ICC propose to do about India which steadfastly refuses to play cricket against Pakistan. I find India's attitude strange. It doesn't see anything politically wrong in playing other games against Pakistan but it puts its foot down when it comes to cricket. May be the ice will be broken when Pakistan meet India in the final of the World Cup 2003! Unlikely but not impossible.

© Dawn