Hello everyone and welcome to my new series. Each week I shall be taking a look back on the events from the world of cricket. I hope to provide all the news, quotes, mishaps and stories from this wonderful game.

This isn't part of my tipping service, not looking at individual games; this is more a review of the week. A kind of “That was the week that was”, to include my views of major talking points. I hope you enjoy it.

I shall start with the major event from the week. Namely the run out incident that occurred at the Oval on Wednesday. In case you have been living on the moon in the last six days, you will have heard that as the game approached a dramatic climax, with New Zealand edging ever closer to England 's below par score of 244, Ryan Sidebottom ran in to bowl to Grant Elliot, who promptly dug out the Yorker that was served up. Kyle Mills came haring out the traps like the number six dog at Wimbledon, screaming “YES” to his batting partner. Elliot looked up, and set off himself. Right into the path of the oncoming raging bull Sidebottom. Cue the collision. Both men ended up on the floor and Bell threw the ball to England skipper Paul Collingwood who whipped off the bails, Elliot was out by about ten yards.

Then came the controversy. The rules state that Elliot was out; the “spirit of the Game” dictated that Collingwood should have called him back. The umpire, Mark Benson, placed his hands on Collingwood's shoulder and asked him what he wanted to do. Collingwood upheld the appeal and Elliot was out. All hell broke loose. Jack Bannister called for Collingwood to be sacked immediately, Graham Thorpe said it definitely wasn't in the spirit of the game and Ian Smith quoted “well if England want to win like that then let them!“ (Rather in the manner of a spoilt child who wasn't getting his own way) and basically every pundit from here to Napier has had their say.

As an aside, Ian Smith seems to forget the unsavoury incident two years ago when New Zealand were hosting Sri Lanka , and Sangakarra had just reached his century upon completing an easy two runs. Our man Murali went up to shake his hand, and as he left his crease New Zealand ran him out! They had the chance to call Murali back, but didn't. Double standards anyone?

Now, I've got to say I feel sorry for Paul Collingwood here. The decision did have to be made rather quickly, and he didn't exactly have experienced heads to turn to. He made his decision and he will have to live with that. In hindsight he probably did make the wrong decision, and he has admitted it. So that should be that.
As it turned out, the event turned out the worst possible way for the skipper. Had he called Elliot back, an England had WON; he would have been labelled a hero and a sportsman. Had he called Elliot back, and England LOST, he would still have been labelled a sportsman. Had he upheld the appeal, and England WON, well, he would have come in for some stick but at least he got the victory. As it was, he is now public enemy no one in some eyes.

Ironically, he now has to serve a four match ban for two successive slow over rates by his team. Kevin Pieterson will take over the armband for the final ODI at Lords and a couple of ODI's against South Africa .

All in all, a pretty bad couple for days for Paul Collingwood. At least he has seen the funny side, quoted as saying “I'll pick six spinners and tell them to get through the overs as quickly as possible".

Still, Collingwood has apologised, Daniel Vettori has accepted it the apology, he's apologised himself for over celebrating, everyone's apologising to everyone and they're all friends again now, which is nice. Big hugs all round

New Zealand went on to complete a sensational victory at the Oval, and went on to seal the series with a thumping win at Lords on Sunday, dishing out their second successive One Day series victory against England.

Talking of South Africa , they have arrived in England for their Test and One Day series with starts on 10th July. This will pit old adversaries Graeme Smith and Kevin Pieterson together again.

Dale Steyn will be quite happy to be away from India for a while. He has upset a few people, and certainly the owners of the Bangalore Royal Challengers who paid an extortionate amount of money for him, with his flippant comment “The IPL was only four overs a game and it was like a paid holiday; you only had to work hard if you felt like it, which is probably why we finished second-last." Perhaps I should make the same comments to my boss in the morning, and see how I get on.

More about the South Africans next week, but currently they are playing Somerset in a warm up game, and were 0/1 with Neil McKenzie trapped LBW for 0 first ball. Going to be easy this series……

In other, tragic news I was very saddened to hear of the death of Jane Mcgrath, the wife of the Australian legendary quick bowler, Glen. Jane Mcgrath had suffered with breast, hip and brain cancer and tragically lost her battle on 22nd June 2008. She leaves behind her 2 young children James and Holly, and our sympathies go out to Glen, who, despite his on field manner, is one of the nicest and likeable men around.

On the English domestic front, Graham Napier set a new world record when he smashed 16 sixes during Essex's 20/20 win over Sussex . He scored a mammoth 158 off just 58 balls.

The Asia cup is currently taking place in Pakistan , where the pitches are as flat as a snooker table and runs aplenty are being had by all. India chased down 299 in just 41 overs the other day, before that they scored 374/4 against poor old Hong Kong . Sri Lanka scored 357/9 against Bangladesh and even good old UAE managed 200+. All in all, a good series to have a “muscle strain” if you are a fast bowler!

There has been a political storm brewing around Zimbabwe 's involvement for some time now, and with the country due to tour England next summer before the Ashes, the ECB have got involved and banned Zimbabwe from touring. They are also calling on other nations to vote to exclude them from the 20/20 World Cup due to be held in England next June. From a player's point of view, I think they are just glad it has been sorted, with England captain Paul Collingwood saying ”It's a great relief in many way. It's been going on since 2001, since I've been playing cricket and it's good that it's been taken out of our hands."

The BCCI (the Indian version of the ECB) it appears, do not share the ECB's view though. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, is quoted as saying “We are very clear that we would like to fully support Zimbabwe on the issue of full membership of the ICC” this statement has enraged many people, with the view that BCCI has backed Zimbabwe in order to get their votes for upcoming events. This is all very political and I think we should just comment on events on the pitch for now.

Australia are currently in the Caribbean finishing off their tour with five One day games against the West Indies . They are currently leading the series 3-0 after destroying the hosts in all three games so far. They won the first game by 84 after setting the West Indies 273 to win. They lost the second game just as convincingly, by 63 runs, after being set just 213 to win on a sluggish track.
There are 2 games to go in this series and I wouldn't be surprised if Australia took the series 5-0.

Australia just seem to have so much strength in depth no mater which player they lose. They called in Shaun Marsh at the top of the order to replace Matthew Hayden for this series, and he top scored with 81 in the opening game. Brad Haddin then goes home with a broken finger so they call in Luke Ronchi, a wicket keeper batsman from Western Australia , and this boy can hit a ball. I've watched him in Australian domestic cricket and he's scored the fasted domestic hundred in their history, coming in just 56 balls, and included several towering sixes off none other than Stuart Clarke.

West Indies on the other hand just seem to go from one brainless performance to another. They undoubtedly have the talent. But they certainly lack the composure. Friday's game was a classic example. It was fairly obvious early on the pitch was not the greatest. Australia got their heads down, with Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey knuckling down and adding 100 runs for the fourth wicket at little over three an over for twenty five overs. This was vital on a pitch offering lots for the bowlers. It was a grafting pitch, one where you had to work hard for your runs. So what do West Indies do when they come out to bat? Try to smash every ball for six and get cleaned up for 140. It is such a shame, because world cricket, quite simply, needs a good West Indies side. Hopefully they can turn the corner soon.

So that brings us to an end of our first week's news on the world of cricket. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, and I look forward to seeing you back here next week, where I will be looking at how South Africa have fared so far on their tour in England, and running a general preview of their upcoming test series against England. I will also be reviewing the latter stages of the Asian Cup, and all the other trials and tribulations that this wonderful sport can throw up.

As the old saying goes, a week is along time in sport. A lot can happen, catch all the news, gossip and stories and, of course, my tips, here at www.priceform.com

Until then, enjoy the week in cricket, there is plenty going on. There are the final three games of the Australia v West Indies series, the ongoing Asia Cup, and New Zealand travel to Scotland to take on Ireland and the hosts in a tri nations type tournament.

Good luck - see you soon.

Paul Seaborne