Temple and Sport

From a Cricket Umpire

Having been an umpire for over a decade now, I have faced several difficult situations- rainy mornings, bad light, dangerous pitch, threats from players to parents’ trying to influencing umpire and match fixing.

Also having played cricket for two decades and especially having captained different teams for the last 6-7 years, I have been subject to different situations- Hence have been keen to watch how different umpires handle difficult situations.

For example, 2 incidents earlier this year caught my eye, both in the India v WI series

The first one where a ball was being bowled with only one umpire on the field
and the second one involved the catch by the WI player on the boundary line when Dhoni was going helter-skelter that afternoon.

But what happened on Sunday at the Oval was truly fascinating from an umpire’s point of view and also to hear how different people viewed it. That late evening I was catching the (in)action both on TV as well the World Service TMS.

Initial reactions from most have been supportive of Pakistan and have come down heavily on Darryl Hair for his supposedly insensitive way of handling the situation. But a few are now talking about the mistakes in decision making both by the Pak team as well as their authorities. I would like to think that there will be more on these lines in the next day or two.

While I am not particularly a fan of Darryl, my view both as a cricketer as well as an umpire is that Umpires on the field of play are the ones responsible for fair play and making sure that the game is played in good spirit. And they are the ultimate authority regards decision making on the field. And simply from that point, their decisions have to be respected. Clearly that afternoon , the Pakistanis failed to respect the umpires decision and hence failed to play the game in the right spirit. I also believe that they enacted a farcical drama by coming in and out of the dressing room, leaving the commentators to speculate on every action.

There are several questions being asked:

Did he spot something(the tampering that is)
Did he warn the players
Was he sensitive enough
With all his decade long experience, did Hair foresee the macro repercussions
Could an umpire have caught something which 26 cameras haven’t
Is it racism
Is it regionalism

Those can continue to matters for debate and more eyeballs for the TV channels.

Umpires are expected to do a specific job on the field including ensuring that the game is played in true spirit and fairness. The umpires took a particular call at 230pm (they followed certain process which were in line with the laws of the game and spirit as well as according to them the Pakistanis had violated the spirit of the game by altering the condition of the ball- Whether this was true, we will know shortly- guess on Friday).

As a captain/team on the receiving side, there are clear processes/guidelines laid out- we even follow it in the lowest of leagues here in Chennai. And Pakistan team had these options.

At tea which is when the Pakistanis deemed fit to protest, they had 20 minutes to lodge an official written protest to Mr. Procter who was sitting next door and yes, watching the proceedings ball by ball.

They could have indicated in that protest letter that they would be playing under protest after tea, which would have negated all suggestions that it would have amounted to agreeing to the umpires’ decision had they come out to play after tea.

This way, they would have played the game in its true spirit.

By refusing to come out the first time, I think it was against the spirit of play

They were given a 2nd chance about 10 minutes later and again they did not turn out . It was the 2nd time they went against the spirit of play

And they completely messed it (from a spirit of play point of view) by coming out on to the field without the umpires having taken the field and thus trying to create a situation that they were ready but the umpires were not. ( The players always follow the umpires on to the field and by taking the field without the umpires, I think the players again brought the game into disrepute).

The umpires in all fairness asked both the teams to come on to the field of play ( the 2nd time) and both the umpires as well as the two batsmen waited for a minute or two for the fielders to arrive. If the Pakistanis had really wanted to only register a protest by delaying the entry into the ground, they would have entered the field when the two umpires and the batsmen went in a 2nd time. I think that is where the Pakistanis lost the plot.

And having given them a clear 2nd chance to get them back on to the field, the umpires removed the bails which meant of end of the test match.Pakistanis by coming back alone into the field sometime later made a mockery of the umpires’ decision.

I do not know whether the ball was tampered or not . I do not know who was right or wrong.
People will continue to have their views on the decision. But with the umpires having made that call to change the ball, Ul Haq’s actions should have been keeping in mind the best interests of the game of cricket. And walking in and out of the dressing room and walking in when the umpires were not in the field was not in the best interest of the game.

If the ICC are not convinced with the umpires report and after inspection of the ball, I am sure they will take necessary action against the umpires. But for Ul Haq’s action or rather inaction and the drama of that 1 hour, it is likely he will pay a heavy price. And a well deserved price as well.

Cricket in the last two decades or so has undergone tremendous change- night cricket, 20-20, TV viewership, sledging, tampering. One thing that definitely needs to be kept in place is the 'spirit of the game' and the players( the Captain) cannot shy away from this responsibility.

Labels: Cricket Tales

posted by PRabhu S @ 3:21 pm