KARACHI, 3 June 2003 — Pakistan cricket fans were yesterday provided an insight into the frustrations of their former national cricket captain Javed Miandad at the politicization of cricket with arch rivals India in his autobiography.

“It is regrettable that politics has spilled over into sports and . . . cricketing ties have been suspended,” writes Miandad in Cutting Edge, My Autobiography, released late Sunday.

“Rivalry with Pakistan apart, Indians are among the best cricket connoisseurs and know how to appreciate a performance.

” India has boycotted bilateral cricket with Pakistan since 2000 but the recent thaw has generated hopes of cricket revival between the two countries in the near future.

Miandad said players do not subscribe to mixing politics and sports.

“One of the greatest things about Pakistan-India cricket has been that despite the political uneasiness, relations between the players have always been excellent and players have come to loathe the mixing of politics and sports,” he observed.

Miandad played his 100th Test during India’s last tour of Pakistan in 1989-90 and was coach when his side last toured India 10 years later.

While flaying the politicization of sport, he had only good words to say about sledging, for which Australian players in particular have been criticized.

Miandad portrayed it as “gamesmanship”.

“Sledging is one of the things that gives cricket an aggressive edge and it should be thought of as gamesmanship.

“Sledging is an art form in Australian cricket and Lillee used it better than most,” he said, referring to former fast bowler Dennis Lillee.

Three times world champions Australia have become so notorious for on and off-field sledging that even the president of International Cricket Council (ICC) Malcolm Gray has come down hard on them.

Miandad, who scored a record 8,832 runs in 124 Tests and 233 one-day games, was famous for his on- and off-field antics and remembered as one of the sport’s liveliest characters.

His most famous on-field bust up with Lillee at Perth in 1981-82 series became part of cricket history.

“I played a delivery from Lillee toward the square leg and pushed off for a single.

About three quarters down the pitch, I collided with him as he blocked my path and on his way back he kicked my pads and swore at me,” reminisced Miandad, who responded by threatening to hit Lillee with his bat.

West Indies End Series on High With Easy Win

In St. George’s Grenada, an unbeaten 103 by Wavell Hinds helped blast the West Indies to a morale-boosting third straight win over Australia on Sunday, although the one-day series ended 4-3 in favor of the tourists.

The West Indies scored 249 for one in 43.

3 overs for a nine-wicket victory, overtaking Australia’s 247 for eight in 50 overs.

Hinds earned the adulation of the Queen’s Park Stadium crowd by scoring back-toback match-winning centuries.

His unbeaten 125 on Friday carried the West Indies to a three-wicket win.

Hinds and Chris Gayle weathered an early salvo of pace bowling by Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie to forge an opening stand of 116.

Gayle was bowled by Andrew Symonds for 60, but Brian Lara ensured that the innings lost none of its momentum as he provided the ideal foil for Hinds.

The West Indies skipper then wrapped up the game in dramatic fashion with three successive sixes off Darren Lehmann, who conceded 27 off nine balls.

Lehmann’s ineptitude with the ball was a mirror image of his performance with the bat, as his resolute innings of 107 had led the tourists to a competitive total.

“I wasn’t trying to prove a point.

It was there to go so I played the shots,” Lara said of his hat trick of sixes that took him to 75.

Man-of-the-match Gayle had earlier set the tone with impressive bowling figures of five for 46.