The last Ashes without referrals – a running tally of umpiring errors

[BoyBrumby]

+1 from Billy, don't reckon Swann hit that.

Don't think the slips or the keeper were that convinced either, very half-arsed appeal. Meh.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Don't think he hit it either, but I was a tad annoyed that it got about 5 minutes of solid replays and hotspot when the iffy one with Watto at Edgebaston wasn't even given a replay.

Meh.

 

[GIMH]

They showed the Watto one loads of times?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Never saw a snicko or a hotspot though. Just a replay with Beefy going "oh yeh of course thats out bumble remember when I was a sick cricketer **** i'm a mad ****"

 

[GIMH]

Haha yeah, that's true, great post

 

[pasag]

300 posts in, has anyone actually kept a tally?

 

[GIMH]

Richard has, hasn't he?

 

[pasag]

Richard has, hasn't he?

Too busy calculating Clarke's FCA iirc.

 

[andyc]

I've only seen the replay in full time, no close-ups. Obviously it sounds like he edged it, but it looked way outside the line. Did it actually hit him in line, and the only problem was the edge, or was it wrong on two counts?

I thought it was outside the line real time as well. But I'm fairly sure it did actually hit the pad in line, but that was only after the inside edge, of course.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Reckon Swann didn't hit it either. What was weird is that it didn't look to me like he was anywhere near the ground with his bat, and there was a white thing on the toe of his bat from hotspot. Was a weird dismissal.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Reckon Swann didn't hit it either. What was weird is that it didn't look to me like he was anywhere near the ground with his bat, and there was a white thing on the toe of his bat from hotspot. Was a weird dismissal.

Yeah that was strange. I thought there was a noise too, but Haddin only looked mildly interested and 1st slip didn't do much at all.

 

[Richard]

Nah, what I meant was that I take issue with Rich's assertion that the saw-offs have had no impact on the series. I don't think you can conclusively say that. For example, Michael Clarke's LBW at Edgbaston was followed by a burst of wickets. Had Aus's best batsman of the series not been given out, he might have gotten a score. Or he might have just been party to watching the burst happen at the other end. Who knows?

Dispute there was not enough time to win the match either, was live until late on day 5. Had Aus posted a better total in the first innings....... Point is, it's all sliding doors once you assume something different on a particular event.

You can't conclusively say anything really in cricket. Any one ball having a different result could conceivably alter the course of the match completely. I think, though, that you can say near-conclusively what I said.

BTW I've barely tallied for this match, given I barely watched... (!)... so can someone give me a list of the errors?

 

[Richard]

surely you jest...

Nah, it's well-known indeed that Bowden is too pally with many of the Australians and is thus reluctant to give many of them out very regular.

Was acknowledged for the first time back in 2004, 2005-ish IIRR.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah that was strange. I thought there was a noise too, but Haddin only looked mildly interested and 1st slip didn't do much at all.

Think he hit it tbh, for this reason. The bat certainly didn't hit anything else and there was a pretty clear noise.

Still a harsh one to give though.

 

[frey]

It would be very interesting to see the tally of umpiring errors in this series.

Also of interest would be to have a table of 'umpiring performance' for the past 12 months across world cricket. This would be a good quality improvement exercise. There could be separate league tables for Tests, ODI etc. It would include umpiring errors per individual umpires, and also take into account the referral system once introduced.

Of course it would not be sanctioned by the ICC, but it could possibly be a great initiative for Cricketweb to take leadership of. Just my thoughts.

I am sure that our mates Koertzen and Bowden will be early favourites to lead the way in the 'performance' tables. Bucknor would have been there also, but he thankfully opted for retirement.

 

[frey]

On the matter of consistent umpiring performance, it may be time to reconsider the current rules that do not allow the top umpires to officiate in tests involving their home nation.

If one considers the past couple of years, I would have preferred umpires such as Taufel and Benson to have been involved in the current Ashes series.

 

[Burgey]

Nah, it's well-known indeed that Bowden is too pally with many of the Australians and is thus reluctant to give many of them out very regular.

Was acknowledged for the first time back in 2004, 2005-ish IIRR.

That's certainly not the view Australia take on him tbh.

 

[frey]

That's certainly not the view Australia take on him tbh.

Agree.

 

[zaremba]

On the matter of consistent umpiring performance, it may be time to reconsider the current rules that do not allow the top umpires to officiate in tests involving their home nation.

If one considers the past couple of years, I would have preferred umpires such as Taufel and Benson to have been involved in the current Ashes series.

Taufel, yes. Benson, not so sure - as an England fan I've not seen him umpire much, but IIRC he was involved, alongside Steve Bucknor, in that hideous umpiring car crash that was India v Australia (I seem to remember him giving Ponting not out down the leg side off Ganguly).

Anyway another aspect of this is that good umpires are deterred from applying to join the Elite Panel because the work involves so much travelling away from home.

Given the scrutiny of umpiring decisions these days, I think that the idea of "overseas" umpires has been, on balance, a good one. It's helped to keep the degree of bad feeling to a minimum. However with the introduction of referrals I think the pressure will be off the umpires a bit, and we'll see a return to the days of one "home" and one "overseas" umpire.

 

[Richard]

Taufel, yes. Benson, not so sure - as an England fan I've not seen him umpire much, but IIRC he was involved, alongside Steve Bucknor, in that hideous umpiring car crash that was India v Australia (I seem to remember him giving Ponting not out down the leg side off Ganguly).

Mark Benson's a poor Umpire IMO - he made more bad decisions than Bucknor in that match (Bucknor's mistake was the most crucial though, because Symonds' let-off proved most important to the match) and it was an accident waiting to happen, because I've never seen him have a particularly good game.

There's at least 3 better Umpires in this country for mine - Peter Willey, still; Jeremy Lloyds; and Nigel Llong as well.