E Rodrigopolle: Poor umpiring in recent times (11 Dec 1997)

Thursday 11, December 1997

Poor umpiring in recent times

Comment by ELMO RODRIGOPULLE

In recent times Test playing countries have been disturbed by the standards of umpiring, and no guess work is needed to predict that adverse reports would have been sent to the International Cricket Council.

In the recently concluded series between India and Sri Lanka and West Indies and Pakistan there were rumblings and certainly no good things would have been said about the umpiring in the end of tour reports.

But Test playing countries must be asking themselves the question: What good or need is there to keep sending reports to the ICC when absolutely no action is being taken?

They have every right to ponder on this question because the same umpires probably against whom adverse reports have gone continue to stand and commit the same blunders.

The ICC in the past rightly earned the tag as being a toothless tiger. This was because other than for meeting to decide when to meet again, sweet nothing was done to give new life to anything that the ICC was expected to do.

All reports or suggestions sent by member countries were shelved probably for posterity.

All Test playing nations are hoping that new President Jagmohan Dalmiya will act the dentist and implant some teeth to the ICC and give it more bite so that the ICC will be more active and vibrant and chew off the dead wood and give it new life. Otherwise the `toothless tiger' tag will remain.

If Dalmiya does not act but follows the beaten path it would be to court calamity.

We are not for a moment saying that the umpires are cheats. We are aware that they are doing a most unenviable job. But some of the decisions have bordered on the ridiculous.

Umpires must understand that they are performing a sacred job. A blunder can make or break the career of a cricketer and prove disastrous to the team. It was the accepted norm that the benefit of the doubt is given to the batsman. But of late we have witnessed the opposite.

At times even the third umpires concept has been made a mockery of - if the Kumble run out is an indication.

Now that the Sri Lankans have returned from India with their heads high, they must not relax but map out strategy and take the best possible limited over team to India to maintain their world champion tag.

Now that Lanka de Silva is injured, Moratuwa dasher Romesh Kaluwitharne has been given his rightful place behind the stumps. Had he been in the middle, there would have been no weaving and ducking, but he would have treated the bouncers from Srinath with disdain and given back as good as he got. De Silva was too timid to face the situation.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)