The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Walking puts more pressure on umpires, says Bucknor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

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Walking puts more pressure on umpires, says Bucknor

SYDNEY, NOV. 23. The debate over walking is putting additional pressure on cricket's match officials because some players might do it more for future gain than because their conscience gets the better of them, umpire Steve Bucknor said.

Bucknor, a 95-Test veteran as umpire, had to intervene in a heated exchange between Australia's Adam Gilchrist and New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan in the first Test in Brisbane on the weekend.

Gilchrist, who said he'll walk off if he thinks he's out, regardless of the umpire's decision, believed he'd caught McMillan out off an inside edge but his appeal was rejected by Bucknor. The Australian wicketkeeper said a few words to McMillan, provoking an angry response.

McMillan replied "we're not all ... walkers," and he'd leave the decision to the umpire.

The exchange was defused when Bucknor told the players to cool it. McMillan was out next ball, adjudged lbw.

The players met on the sidelines after Australia's innings and 156-run win and McMillan told Gilchrist he was being "a bit righteous." New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said one or two of the Australians were on a walking "crusade."

The incident overshadowed Australia's emphatic win and Gilchrist cancelled a scheduled news conference on Monday after seeing the reaction in the media.

Bucknor, who conceded his not out verdict in the McMillan instance was wrong, said walking complicated his job because different players had different motives.

"With walkers, I think umpires should make their decision when they see it," Bucknor was quoted saying in Tuesday's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

"If a fella is a walker and his conscience is saying to him that he is going to play fair, that's up to him. (But) It puts pressure on the umpires, yes."

Bucknor told the newspaper that other batsmen might choose to walk only after they'd scored some runs.

"Sometimes a batsman will only walk because he has already passed 100, knowing that he wouldn't walk when he was on zero. I have heard batsmen say, `You owe me one' to umpires because they walked on a big score when the umpire was not going to rule them out.

"If he knows that he is out and he goes, that's good for the game. But the umpire should not depend on someone who is a walker. Otherwise, that same walker may embarrass the umpire."

Fleming said he wouldn't impose a blanket rule on his New Zealanders to promote walking and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said walking wasn't a team philosophy.

Ponting said Gilchrist made a personal decision about it and didn't pressure any of his teammates or rivals to walk. — AP

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