Harper withdraws from Dominica Test

Umpire Daryl Harper has withdrawn from the third Test between the West Indies and India in Dominica that begins from July 6. Harper will be replaced in what was to be his final outing as a member of the elite panel by Richard Kettleborough .

He decided to step down "in the wake of some unfair criticism," according to ICC general manager Dave Richardson. Harper had been removed from the elite panel in May along with Asoka de Silva. His decisions in the recent Kingston Test had also attracted some criticism with MS Dhoni saying that "if the correct decisions were made, the game would have finished much earlier and I would have been in the hotel by now."

Richardson, though, defended Harper's decision-making record. "The reality of the situation is that Daryl's statistics show his correct decision percentage in Tests involving India is 96 per cent, which is considerably higher than the international average for top-level umpires.

"We have every faith in Daryl to finish the series and while we regret his decision we do respect it. The real shame is it deprives him of the opportunity to sign off as a Test match umpire in a manner befitting someone who has served the game so well since making his international debut back in 1994."

Harper stood in 95 Tests, 174 ODIs and 10 T20Is, making his international ODI debut in 1994 at Perth and his Test debut in November 1998.