World Cup Umpires in the firing line (12 May 1999)

12 May 1999

World Cup Umpires in the firing line

Trevor Chesterfield

London - Dodging the showers on the golf course was one way for South Africa's World Cup side to keep fit three days before the tournament favourites open their 1999 bid to win the crown.

With players such as Jonty Rhodes over his injury scare and worries he might miss the game against India at Hove on Saturday allayed as he fielded with his accustomed care and attention in the blustery May morning on Tuesday, another worry has started to surface.

Umpires and the International Cricket Council could face some heavy flak if events leading to Herscehelle Gibbs' dismissal against Middlesex are not sorted out. It was embarrassing to a hear South Africa's players shouting "no ball...no ball" as Middlesex were found to have too many players outside the ring.

But Messrs Darrel Hair (Australia) and Subash Modi (Kenya), the upholders of law and order ignored the law and failed to uphold the order, allowing their attention to slip as Gibbs, in full flow, was given out caught.

Little wonder the Western Province batting dynamo felt he was entitled to a "free hit" under normal limited-overs fielding etiquette which demands a player in the circle which has a defined number of restrictions on field-placings.

Perhaps it may have been one of the warm-up slogs and accounted for little, but with no third man peering into a monitor or a match referees in attendance it was easy for the umpires attention to slip. Hair continually damned by a sullen Sri Lanka media and officials, if not the team for his forthright views of Muttiah Muralithan's bowling action, allowed Yorkshire-born Richard Kettleborough to get away an obvious misdemeanour.

There has also been criticism of South Africa's umpire David Orchard allowing seven-ball overs to slip into his matches with England which is minor when it comes to the Gibbs episode. Should it be allowed to slip past the attention of the umpires in any of the first round slogs it could create a serious problem.

With the opening of the event at Lord's tomorrow, where England take on Sri Lanka, London is catching up to the rest of the country by acknowledging there is something else taking place and more important than Manchester whoever aiming for some title which is not of the slightest interest to the millions in Calcutta.

Source :: Trevor Chesterfield