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Food
for some serious thought, isn't it?
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- Sidharth Mongia
Watching a cricket match with quality commentators to listen to can be a real treat. As it turned out to be, listening to Robin Jackman and Dean Jones in the One Day series between Pakistan and South Africa has been an absolute delight. Such people who know the game inside out bring up some points of concern before many of us even notice that.
One such instance was brought up by Robin Jackman during the third ODI at
Faisalabad. Let me take you through to that. Early on in the Pakistan innings, Makhaya Ntini fielded a ball at third man boundary and the naked eye couldn’t see that Ntini’s foot had touched the rope while he collected the ball. Darrell Hair didn’t go upstairs to confirm it and called it two runs. Coincidentally, the over finished there and while they were changing ends, Darrell Hair
signaled a four. Apparently, the third umpire saw the replay and told Hair his mistake. Fair enough, even umpires can make mistakes……Accepted!
A few overs later, a Yasir Hameed straight drive disturbs the stumps at the non-strikers’ end and Andrew Hall, the bowler appeals claiming that he had a touch on the ball and Yousuf Youhana was short of his ground. Darrell Hair nonchalantly walks away, calls it not out, the batters pick a single on the rebound. The replays quite clearly show that Hall had got a touch on the ball and Youhana was indeed out! Now, why didn’t Aleem Dar, the third umpire call on Hair, “Hold on mate, I think you have got it wrong, hold the play for a few seconds while I convey you the right decision.”, just like he had earlier done in the Ntini case. The ICC technical committee on playing conditions has been having talks about bringing more technology into umpiring, has thought of drawing tram lines on the pitch, and all sorts of things but why don’t they think of
utilizing the existing technology to its fullest. The above incident was an instance of a non-referral to the third umpire but where the third umpire could have easily intervened in the nick of time and help bring the correct decision.
When the third umpire sees that the umpire has not used the television replay and has made a wrong decision, he should have the discretion to correct the decision. It’s as ridiculously simple as that. While it was absurd for Rashid Latif to claim that infamous catch against the Bangladeshis, how absurd was it for the third umpire to have seen it and still not blow the hooters to stop the batsman right there and let him play? If Latif deserved a strict punishment, the umpires there deserved a punishment at least half as strict as Latif got. The fact of the matter is that third umpire shouldn’t act as a spectator who would intervene only when asked to, he has to be proactive. Food for some serious thought, isn’t it?
Another thing Dean Jones noticed was the lack of dissent shown by the South African fielders because that could have meant an unwanted date with Clive Lloyd, the match referee. Now, what in the name of sanity is this? An umpire makes a decision that, in the nicest of terms, can be called rubbish and if the players show just a hint of disappointment at the decision, they are booked. For whole of the last year I have seen a man go by the name of
Asoka Desilva and invent newer modes of dismissals such as LBA (Leg before
Asoka). A man thinks that the batsman is out just because the bowler has made a very good appeal, doesn’t matter if the ball pitched outside the leg stump, doesn’t matter if it was missing the stumps, it requires only a convincing appeal to get the nod from
Asoka. What happens? Asoka continues to be a member of the panel of elite umpires but the poor victims of LBA get punished for show of dissent. Bravo ICC! Good job, Deanno and I are impressed. Keep up the good work.
While players all over the world get axed for not playing well, likewise those umpires who constantly make errors should be fired. Demoting some umpires from the elite panel could well be a move in the right direction. It’s agreed that once in a blue moon every umpire makes a mistake but when erring becomes a habit, that umpire should not be allowed to spoil some very good games. A constant evaluation of the umpires’ performance and maybe some umpiring coaches could very definitely help. For instance, cameras showed that one of the main reasons why Asoka Desilva got most of his rulings wrong was that he didn’t stand in a straight line with the stumps. Such aspects can very well be picked up by experienced umpires. Some retired umpires like Dickie Bird could very well be used to fine tune the skills of the present crop. The importance and the demands of the umpiring job can never be
over-emphasized and some serious advances need to be made in the field to
minimized the errors made by the umpires on the field. While the human error factor can not be eradicated from the game completely, some smart thinking can damn sure
minimize it.
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