Atherton: cut powers of third umpire (13 December 1998)

13 December 1998

Atherton: cut powers of third umpire

Scyld Berry

Scyld Berry on the repercussions of the controversial dismissal of the former England captain in the third Test

MICHAEL ATHERTON, the England opening batsman, has called for the powers of the third umpire to be restricted following his controversial dismissal on the second day of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.

The former England captain was given out caught at slip by the Australian captain, Mark Taylor, for 41 after the decision had been referred to the third umpire. Television replays failed to prove conclusively whether Taylor had caught the ball cleanly.

Atherton, who "felt the ball had not carried", but "accepted the decision", said afterwards: "In my opinion the third umpire should be restricted to line decisions [run-outs, stumpings and boundaries]. What people are looking for from a third umpire is 100 per cent correct decision-making, but that's a Utopia that cannot exist. There's often doubt about non-line decisions made by the third umpire. There is no substitute at the end of the day for the player's word out in the middle and the two umpires' control of the decision-making process."

Graham Gooch, the England tour manager, has written a letter of complaint to the match referee, John Reid, about the dismissal.

This is not, however, a case of England being whingeing Poms. Some valid points are made in the letter. Why on earth is a 29-year-old who has umpired two first-class games in his life acting as the third or TV umpire in an Ashes Test match, and making decisions which could affect the outcomes of games, series and even careers?

It is an issue Atherton feels strongly about. "In my time as England captain I reckon that on half a dozen occasions I asked in my captain's report for the third umpire's duties to be taken more seriously - ie. we should have an experienced Test umpire doing the TV umpire's job," he said.

Atherton was batting his best of the winter as he accelerated after tea on the second day. At last he didn't have to contend with Curtly Ambrose, Allan Donald or Glenn McGrath getting up his nose. At last he had some spinners to face - spin at both ends, his first taste for many a Test match - and he was working the ball around with soft hands and keen appetite.

Then a leg-break from Stuart MacGill bounced, as some balls will do on Adelaide's crusty surface, and Atherton deflected it downwards with a straight though open-faced bat towards Taylor's toes at slip. Everybody agrees on the story so far. What happened next is the bone of contention.

"From my position I felt the ball hadn't carried," said Atherton. "Mark Taylor immediately claimed the catch and followed it up by saying he wasn't sure it had carried.

"Steve Bucknor [the umpire] then called for the third umpire. Nasser Hussain walked down to my end saying he felt it hadn't carried. Ian Healy [the Australian wicketkeeper] felt it had carried and we waited for the decision. Upon the red light being pressed I accepted the decision and went off."

As Australia's century-maker, Justin Langer, who was fielding at point at the time of the incident, commented later: "It depends what dressing-roon you were sitting in." So intensely subjective are cricketers during a Test match that one side will swear that two and two make three, and the other side five. "To us it was clearly out," added Langer.

To Atherton it was not so clear at all, so he stood his ground while umpire Steve Bucknor discussed with his square-leg colleague, Steve Davis, before calling for a TV replay and a decision from the third umpire. For this match he is an Adelaide accountant called Paul Angley, who used to play local grade cricket as an opening bat, and umpired his first Shield match last season and a second this season.

In the diplomatic words of Graham Gooch, author of England's letter of complaint: "Not a long period of time elapsed between the appeal and the decision. He made the decision in a very short space of time. We feel very strongly about it, so we've put our thoughts down on paper while they were fresh."

To be precise, Angley watched a slow-motion replay of the 'catch' from two camera angles and then gave his decision. Only after that did Channel Nine come up with another, more illuminating angle which showed the ball going down and then bouncing upwards, either from the ground or Taylor's finger-tips.

Whichever the case, no umpire could have upheld the appeal with certainty after seeing this evidence. He would have had to allow the existing state of affairs to continue, that is Atherton to carry on batting (there is no such thing in the laws of cricket as 'benefit of the doubt').

At a press conference after the close of the second day Gooch emphasised that while Atherton was "upset", England had nothing against the Australian captain. "We have got no complaint about Mark Taylor and his sportsmanship," said England's tour manager.

Shortly before this press conference, when Alec Stewart and all the other England players had left their dressing-room to take the coach back to their hotel, Taylor came out of the Australian dressing-room and called to Gooch as he was leaving. "The ball jammed between my fingers," explained Taylor. "I said at the time I wasn't sure." After a two-minute conversation the two shook hands and separated.

But England do have a justifiable complaint, not about Taylor but about being subject to the decision of an umpire of such limited experience, who came too hastily to his conclusion - and one which was ostensibly wrong on all the available evidence.

Angley is not on Australia's National Umpires Panel of nine men who officiate in home Test matches. He was chosen because he was local and came cheap, without having to be flown inter-state. In future, if replays are to be used in international cricket, every third umpire must be a member of his country's Test panel.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)