A Tumultuous Draw

Unlike tennis and most other sports, it is unacceptable for a cricketer to show open dissent towards an umpire. I cannot imagine a tennis player being fined for shaking his head like Mike Atherton did in the 1998 series against South Africa. As a consequence cricketers find subtler ways of showing their displeasure, as Hansie Cronje did by grinning broadly after being on the receiving end of a similarly poor decision in the same series.

The tumultuous 2nd Test ended in a tense draw as England managed to recover from a calamitous 20-4 to end the day on 164-6, a hypothetical 121 runs from victory. Clearly the umpires had a difficult game to officiate and unsurprisingly they appeared to err on the side of caution when awarding wickets. Umpires are less likely to be criticised for mistakenly giving the benefit of the doubt to the batsman, than for showing charity towards the bowler’s appeals. This led to bowlers showing “dissent” through excessive appealing, a self-defeating trait that is common amongst spinners.

A quick trawl through the message boards indicates that Pakistani supporters are questioning the impartiality of the two umpires. I don’t wish to give any credence to unsubstantiated allegations of racism, but it is worth exploring reasons for these accusations.

Umpiring decisions require judgement, which will be influenced by established conventions. For example, where I come from umpires do not give LBW decisions for deliveries that a batsman hits, even if it clearly strikes the pad first. Similarly a batsman can consider himself unlucky to be given out if he is hit above the knee roll or if he takes a good stride down the wicket, no matter how straight the ball. I believe that different conventions become established in different countries and this can lead to antagonism. For example, Phil Tufnell once complained that Australian umpires never gave “bat pad” decisions.

As with more serious occurrences of racial discord, what is required is not a pointless argument over who is right or wrong, just an acceptance that a different background and upbringing will often lead to a different point of view.