Even with techno help, umpires get it wrong
Dear umpires in the SA-India cricket series,
You guys had better have your wits about you in the coming weeks. The three-Test series promises so much and it would be a pity if it were ruined by a controversial decision or two.
And there have been a couple of those in the recent past. I know umpires keep reminding us they are only human and are, thus, prone to mistakes, but when you have slow motion and ultra-slow motion replays, from more angles than in your average geometry class, and you still get it wrong, some start suggesting you may be human, but not a very bright one.
In the Proteas’ humiliation of the hapless Zimbabwe in the pinkball Test at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth (what’s next, a match in which the players all wear tutus?), Hashim Amla took a catch at first slip to remove Brendan Taylor in the visitors’ second innings.
Taylor was given out by the onfield umpire and justifiably asked for the decision to be referred to the third umpire as Amla had dived forward to take the chance and looked as if he may have grassed it.
The television replays I saw clearly proved the ball had touched the ground shortly before settling in Amla’s grasp. We were treated to countless replays and a slow-mo zoom of the moment of
Guy Hawthorne
truth, and I was convinced Taylor was not out. But the umpires thought otherwise.
The decision didn’t make much difference, but it would have been a sorry way to decide a closely-contested match.
Then, Down Under in the fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England, Usman Khawaja took a similar catch to “dismiss” Stuart Broad, who was on 56 and looking set for a big score.
Again, the decision of out was referred and, again, replays clearly showed the ball dislodging from Khuwaja’s grasp and sliding under his body before he re-gathered it, twisted around and claimed the catch. The Australians would later say the ball didn’t touch the ground, but they also insisted Khuwaja’s face went nowhere near the turf. From the replays I saw, he did a full-on face plant and with a little more momentum would have resembled a startled ostrich with its head buried in the ground.
After seeing the replays on the big screen, Broad was so convinced he was not out he started putting his batting gloves back on and the look of incredulity on his face when the third umpire upheld the original decision had to be seen to be believed.
Again, that decision probably had no bearing on the result (the match ended in a draw and Australia were already 3-0 up in the five-match series). But if it had decided the outcome of that match and, indeed, the Ashes themselves, the decision of the umpires would have overshadowed some superb performances by some players. Very sad, indeed.
Being an umpire is a thankless job and officials often come in for stick for decisions they make. But when you have so much help in arriving at the correct decision and you still get it wrong, it is hard to sympathise.