N Whitfield: Cyril Mitchley's Passion For Cricket (24 Apr 1996)

Passion for cricket has our Cyril standing for days round the globe

Passion for cricket has our Cyril standing for days round the globe On the ball ... Cyril Mitchley spends five days making often hairline decisions that can cast tens of thousands, if not millions, of armchair critics into joy or despair

By Nikki Whitfield

There is an armchair against one wall in International Cricket Council umpire Cyril Mitchley`s livingroom which faces the "wrong way". Not into the room, like the other chairs and sofas, but strai ght towards the television in the far right-hand corner. It`s clear that this chair is where Mitchley spends a lot of time when he`s at his Kensington home. It moulds around him familiarly, like a favourite jersey. And it isn`t hard to guess what lights up the box when Mitchley is at the reins of the remote control. Sport, and particularly cricket, is his life. When he isn`t controlling a cricket match at ovals around the world, he`s coaching it, watching it or talking about it. And it keeps him very busy.

This interview had to be arranged quickly - he was about to leave for the West Indies to umpire the second test there against New Zealand. But having recently returned from India and Pakistan after performing his duties at the World Cup, he was more excited about leaving home than you might expect. For the first time in his 16 years as an umpire, his wife Anne was to accompany him. They`ll be away for three weeks, spending some time in Antigua and then on to Bermuda where New Zealand are scheduled to play a few friendlies. Mitchley, now 57, has umpired at most of the famous grounds around the world in his 16 years as an international umpire.

He was at the helm of the World Cup semi-finals between India and Sri Lanka when the Indian crowd, incensed at their team`s inevitable defeat, grew unruly and began hurling bottles on to the pitch. Still, he said Eden Gardens "takes some beating for sheer electrical atmosphere". "After the semi-final incident, all the newspapers on the Asian sub-continent apologised to the world for the aggression. Everyone was ashamed. But, actually, it wasn`t so bad. Mostly, plastic bot tles filled with water were thrown on to the pitch. The real reason the game was stopped was because some bottles were exploding on the boundary and the players` safety might have been at risk." South Africa, Mitchley said, were redhot favourites to win the World Cup. "You can ask anybody. But we were flying too high - we`d won five games in a row. I knew we had to come down either in th e quarters or the semis, and we came down in the quarters in a game that we never should have lost."

Mitchley`s youngest son, Scott, who`s 27, wanders in on his way to play golf. They agree the rules of the World Cup leave a lot to be desired. "I`m not saying Sri Lanka aren`t worthy champions. But how can they really say they are the world champs when they haven`t played everybody, South Africa included?" Mitchley said. "We lost one game in the whole tournament and we were home. The West Indies lost three and nearly made it to the finals. Everybody needs to play everybody else, and the final should be decided over three matches, not one." The English team are the best to umpire for, in Mitchley`s opinion. "I`m surprised the Poms are so unpopular. They are the best behaved team, very professional and accepting of decisions against t hem. The South African boys are pretty good, too." And the Australians? He smiled. "I reserve my comment. They play damn hard, though." Dicey decisions are difficult and do worry him, especially when he sees the incident on a television replay later.

Yet while the modern technology creeping in the game of cricket does help an umpi re`s job, it`s really "a damn pity". "I believe players and umpires should be allowed to make mistakes.Modern technology like the introduction of the third umpire is changing the game, although it does take a lot of pressure off the umpire at square leg. And it`s coming for lbw decisions as well. I t`s just a matter of time." As a schoolboy at the now defunct Troye- ville High, Mitchley captained the cricket and soccer sides, and then went on to be wicketkeeper and a middle-order batsman for Transvaal. He also coaches, m ainly at Jeppe Boys` High where he has a young black star "who is the closest thing to Clive Rice I`ve ever seen". And, he predicts, it is just a matter of time before South Africa has three or four black players in its side.

Source :: The Star