Against the odds
England v Zimbabwe, 2nd Test, Riverside, Day 2 "We feel like we're playing 13 men out there." Comments to this effect have come from various Zimbabwean players at various times over the years, and no doubt are being made with more fury than ever
Zimbabwe Verdict by John Ward
06-Jun-2003
England v Zimbabwe, 2nd Test, Riverside, Day 2
"We feel like we're playing 13 men out there." Comments to this effect have come from various Zimbabwean players at various times over the years, and no doubt are being made with more fury than ever after the umpires struck yet again during the second day's play against England at Riverside.
"We feel like we're playing 13 men out there." Comments to this effect have come from various Zimbabwean players at various times over the years, and no doubt are being made with more fury than ever after the umpires struck yet again during the second day's play against England at Riverside.
Mark Vermeulen was denied the benefit of the doubt by Darrell Hair to a
ball that may have clipped the bails or cleared the stumps. Dion
Ebrahim was fired out by Zimbabwe's old enemy David Orchard after
edging the ball into his pads. These two unfortunate decisions started
Zimbabwe's slide and effectively destroyed this Test match as a
contest.
Stuart Carlisle fell to a more straightforward decision the ball after
Vermeulen, and there were visions of history almost repeating itself.
Nearly four years ago Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka took a hat-trick against
Zimbabwe in Harare with his first three deliveries of the match. But
Grant Flower watched the hat-trick ball sail past his off stump.
Heath Streak was foolish to pad up to Richard Johnson outside his off
stump later on in Zimbabwe's abbreviated first innings. He should have
known that Hair isn't a great one for the benefit of the doubt, and is
famous for firing out batsmen who don't play a stroke. A wise
Zimbabwean policy would have been "Keep your pads away from the
ball at all costs". If Hair was to blame for trusting in uninspired
guesswork, Streak's shouldering of arms was bordered on insanity.
The only surer way to get out would have been to kick his stumps over.
The psychological effect on a ridiculously inexperienced Zimbabwe
team was shattering. They played badly, England played well; even if
the umpires had got everything right, Zimbabwe would probably have
struggled. But the lack of fight by many players after those early
disasters was very disturbing, even given the inexperience of the team.
The magnificently gritty Tatenda Taibu and Raymond Price can safely
be excluded from this condemnation, while Douglas Hondo did his
best.
Napoleon said that God is always on the side of the big battalions. He
actually meant umpires. By the time the score was 11, Zimbabwe had
only Grant Flower of their specialist batsmen left, the others all having
departed to lbw decisions ... one good, one bad, one borderline. It is
hard enough for Zimbabwe to compete in Test cricket today at the best
of times - but at Riverside, two of the supposedly best umpires in the
world made it impossible.
Over the years the TV replays do seems to confirm that Zimbabwe get
more bad decisions against them than they get themselves. Why?
Perhaps there is a subtle psychology in this. Against a team perceived
as weak, perhaps an umpire is subconsciously more inclined to expect
a batsman to be dismissed than against a stronger side. In the same
way, it is often felt that a tailender is more likely to suffer a rough
decision than a top batsman. I've done a bit of umpiring in my time, and
can relate to this feeling to an extent - and if anyone doubts it, perhaps
they can come up with a better explanation. For so often Zimbabwe do
indeed seem to be playing 13 men when they take the field. Don't forget
that the biggest blow in the Lord's Test was the reprieve of a plumb-lbw
Mark Butcher 100 runs before his eventual dismissal. By David
Orchard.