India, Australia players pay tribute to David Shepherd (Kotla Diary)

India and Australia cricket teams Saturday paid tribute to legendary English umpire David Shepherd, who died Oct 28, before the start of the third one-day international at Ferozeshah Kotla here.

The players and match officials took the field wearing black armbands and observed a two-minute silence to pay their condolences to Shepherd, who died after a long battle with cancer. He was 68.

One of the game's most revered umpires, Shepherd stood in 172 One-day Internationals (ODIs), three consecutive World Cup finals, and 92 Test matches from 1983 to 2005. The Englishman also has a special feat of officiating in six International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cups.

Shepherd was a first-class cricketer and during his 14-year-long career played 282 first class matches for Gloucestershire.

He began umpiring in 1981 in the first-class matches. His last Test appearance was in June 2005 in the West Indies versus Pakistan match in Kingston and his final appearance in an ODI at The Oval in 2005.

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42,000 turn up for the first ever day and night encounter

Ferozeshah Kotla was teeming with spectators, 42,000 to be precise, to watch the third ODI between India and Australia.

The match is also the first day and night one-day international at the stadium.

Around 42 turnstile machines, which were used first in the Champions League, have been installed at the gates to keep a record of the number of spectators. The spectators can go inside after swiping the ticket in the machine that has an electronic chip.

'It has been very helpful during the Champions League matches to check illegal entries. Now we have installed the machines at every gate. It gives us an exact figure of the spectator turnout. But most importantly, nobody can sneak in without tickets which used to happen earlier,' a DDCA official told IANS.

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Hazare makes maiden international appearance at 48

Sanjay Hazare got to officiate in his first international match Saturday. The 48-year-old from Baroda has previously stood in 48 first class matches.

Hazare has been the TV umpire in the Nagpur match. A Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement Friday said Hazare will continue as TV umpire, but later it came out that match referee Chris Broad had decided to give Hazare his maiden international appearance.

According to ICC ruling, in a series where there are five or more matches, the TV umpire can take up the role of one of the field umpires as the series progresses.

'Hazare was supposed to umpire the sixth ODI in Guwahati, but Broad decided that since Shavir Tarapore and Amiesh Saheba had been doing duty for two matches now, Hazare could take over,' BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said.

Meanwhile, reserve umpire Sudhir Asnani had replaced Mark Benson, who couldn't officiate in the opening one-dayer in Vadodara because of a severe bout of migraine and had to be admitted in a hospital.