Australia's captain Tim Paine (R) makes an unsuccessful appeal for the wicket of England's captain Joe Root (L) on the second day of the first Ashes cricket Test match between England and Australia at Edgbaston in Birmingham, central England on August 2, 2019. Picture: Lindsey Parnaby / AFP
While the International Cricket Council (ICC) basks in the “excitement” of a new World Test Championship, which officially kicked off with The Ashes, it is nonetheless still difficult not to be weighed down by certain realities.
Most prominently, some shocking umpiring on the opening day at Edgbaston illustrated vividly that the discipline is in peril.
Former West Indian great Michael Holding did his best to make the world aware of the problem after he criticised the officials for the World Cup meeting between Australia and the Windies.
Naturally, the suits attempted to muzzle him.
The euphoria from a thrilling final was also soured by Kumar Dharmasena’s admission that they got Ben Stokes’ infamous six-run overthrow wrong.
And now, the first day of the latest edition of The Ashes, was also characterised by some shocking umpiring.
It started as early as the seventh delivery of the series, when David Warner was revealed to have snicked a wide one down leg from Stuart Broad.
He was out not long afterwards to a cracker of a full delivery from Broad.
To be fair to Aleem Dar, it looked adjacent, but Hawk Eye revealed it was going down because Warner had been standing so far out of his crease.
Steve Smith was given out to a delivery that, on review, missed leg by more than an inch.
Dar’s colleague, Joel Wilson, got a plumb LBW of Matthew Wade wrong.
Dar then gave James Pattinson out leg before, which, had the Aussies reviewed, would have been overturned.
Wilson gave Peter Siddle out before replays revealed a massive inside edge.
By the end of the day, they were so starved of confidence that they were even checking so-called bump-ball catches.
The ICC has long been in denial over the decision review system (DRS) in terms of how it protects umpires. Yes, some decisions are being corrected, but it’s not helping the umpires.
Instead, we’re left with a dichotomy: some seemingly shrug off their poor decisions, while others become too spooked.
World cricket desperately needs accountability from its umpires, but also proper support.
Heinz Schenk.
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