The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Umpires come under fire in a ‘no-result’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Umpires come under fire in a ‘no-result’

Ted Corbett

BIRMINGHAM: The umpires came under fire after the second One-Day International between England and New Zealand ended as a no-result in a steady downpour at Edgbaston.

If one more over could have been bowled there would have been a result. It takes 20 overs to create a match but the bad light and rain combined to force an end to a match that had already been cut to 23 overs. The New Zealanders, who needed just seven more runs to win under the complicated Duckworth-Lewis rules provided they did not lose another wicket were understandably annoyed as a win would have levelled the series score.

No doubt

Their captain Daniel Vettori had no doubt where the blame lay. “It is down to the umpires to keep the game moving and in my opinion they did not push England hard enough,” he said. “There is no doubt we would have won if we had played the full overs or even the 20th over. There is a sense of disappointment in the dressing room. It is almost like a loss.”

Paul Collingwood, the England captain, denied there was any gamesmanship afoot. We were chasing the ball a bit at times, he declared. At times England’s over rate dropped below 13 an hour.

There is worse news for the English umpire Ian Gould and the Australian Steve Davis; they were directly responsible by their frequent consultations about the weather and the time Gould took to decide whether a stop on the boundary by the fast bowler James Anderson should be called two or four.

In the background it was possible to hear Brendon McCullum, the key stroke maker at the top of the Kiwi batting order, urging Gould to forget the consultation with the TV umpire and get on with the game.

McCullum was clearly confident he could hit his way to victory; Gould was too concerned to obey the letter of the law.

He is one of the most sensible cricket people around but even he could not shake off the stifling effect of the regulations.

There is a clear need for a revision of the rules particularly the condition that says if an hour is lost there must be a half-hour interval but there ought to be a requirement for the umpires to use a little commonsense.

A 20-minute interval would have prevented all these arguments.

ICC has been quiet on almost every subject of interest in the last few months and now is the time to sort out one-day regulations and give the umpires added incentive to think quickly on their feet when unusual weather conditions apply.

Sidebottom should return to the side for the third match at Bristol on Saturday when England will do well to remember that New Zealand in an ODI is a different proposition from New Zealand the Test side.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport