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New umpires added to Elite Panel

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
Mark Benson, Billy Doctrove and Asad Rauf have been added to the Elite Panel, which gives then 10 umpires which seems fair enough to reduce the workload on the umpire, the article. I'm glad that jokers like Parker and Davis weren't added, a bit surprised Hair wasn't dropped for that Indian umpire, but lately unless someone retires they never seemed to get dropped, regardless of how crap they umpire.
 

Autobahn

State 12th Man
To be fair Hair isn't that bad an umpire althought he can get really picky about stuff and the murali incident didn't do him any good.

The three new umpires all look pretty good actually and at least the ICC is trying to lighten the workload on these umpires which has been bad since David Shepherd quit. IMO i think Billy Doctrove handed Warne superbly in the SA series not the least intimidated by the aussies.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Rauf is a very impressive umpire indeed. Not too sure about Doctrove, he seems a bit up and down for me, but Rauf is one of the best, there's no doubt. Have to see a bit more of Benson before I can form an opinion.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Autobahn said:
To be fair Hair isn't that bad an umpire althought he can get really picky about stuff and the murali incident didn't do him any good.
He's made some shockers of late though, of my recollection. That said, at least he knows what a leg glance is.
 

JASON

Cricketer Of The Year
FaaipDeOiad said:
Rauf is a very impressive umpire indeed. Not too sure about Doctrove, he seems a bit up and down for me, but Rauf is one of the best, there's no doubt. Have to see a bit more of Benson before I can form an opinion.
I was impressed most by Billy Doctrove and to a lesser extent by Asad Rauf .

Not convinced about Mark Benson, who IMO is still a fair way off being an International level umpire and no doubt his performances should tell soon.

I am disappointed in the ICC not dropping some of the rubbishers like Harper , who remains on the elite panel despite being absolute crap, while people like Asoka De Silva got dropped for similar performances.

This is bloody double standards from the ICC, which no doubt has a lot to do with Speed still being at the top of the ICC.

Does anyone know when his Term ends (Speed I mean) ?

I wish someone like Ali Bacher can take over this job quickly when this guy moves on . Cannot be soon enough for me.:laugh:
 
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JASON

Cricketer Of The Year
honestbharani said:
Bucknor is still there, so meh...
I think he is holding on till the next World Cup in the windies next year.

I suspect he will retire after that.:)
 

JASON

Cricketer Of The Year
chaminda_00 said:
Harper hasn't been great lately, but he is still better then Asoka De Silva
So its okay to poor time after time against certain teams ? Thats still acceptable for the elite panel ?
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
JASON said:
And Harper is crap against us all the time !!:@
I blame fatigue on his behalf in the last two series he has umpired us, he had a pretty big schedule prior to them. Hopefully with the umpires having a lighter schedule now, decent umpires like Harper will umpire to their abilty against all team, including us.
 

alternative

Cricket Web Content Updater
JASON said:
I think he is holding on till the next World Cup in the windies next year.

I suspect he will retire after that.:)

Just can't wait for the day Bucknor Retires.. its worth a celebration..
 

adharcric

International Coach
Don't know much about Benson. Doctrove is decent and Rauf is excellent, not quite like Taufel but very good indeed. Thank God Hariharan isn't anywhere close to making the panel.
 

JASON

Cricketer Of The Year
adharcric said:
Don't know much about Benson. Doctrove is decent and Rauf is excellent, not quite like Taufel but very good indeed. Thank God Hariharan isn't anywhere close to making the panel.
Not surprised about Hariharan .:)

But I am very disappointed that Arani Jayaprakash didn't get a look in ahead of Benson, having far far greater experience and being pretty good on most occasions.

I was pretty amused to read this from Cricinfo article on the Umpiring appointments -

Benson made his international umpiring debut in 2004 and has umpired in matches involving all the Test playing countries and is well respected by the players. He was singled out for his creditable performance in the VB Series in Australia earlier this year.
If anything I can remember his poor umpiring in the VB series in games against Sri Lanka and he was also one of the two who did not bother to get a 3rd Umpire input on the famous (or infamous -whichever way you look at it) Ponting catch .

Then this -
David Richardson, the ICC General Manager - Cricket, and former Test cricketer, congratulated the new members and justified the reasons for their elevation.

He said, "It is important to remember that just as umpires only make it onto the Elite Panel by proving they are excellent officials, they only retain their place if they can maintain these high standards on a consistent basis from year to year. The ICC will be doing everything it can to support them along the way."
Does not seem that way at the moment with regard to Daryl Harper !!

BTW , the ODI umpires (the ones in the next tier) don't seem to be under any performance review ATM. This is just my observation , but I could be wrong.

I also cannot understand why a poor performer like Steve Davis got onto Umpiring a Test in SL (recently ) when he is not even on the elite panel and if anything he needs to be kicked out of the next tier as well.:@
 
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JASON

Cricketer Of The Year
honestbharani said:
Jayaprakash cannot honestly be worse than Bucknor, Harper, Rudi and the others. He is worth giving a spot.
I totally agree with that. Disappointed they chose Benson ahead of him.
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
JASON said:
I also cannot understand why a poor performer like Steve Davis got onto Umpiring a Test in SL (recently ) when he is not even on the elite panel and if anything he needs to be kicked out of the next tier as well.:@
The thing is that the next tier is just the next best three unpires from each country out the elite panel. And well there isn't any better umpires in Australia then jokers like Davis and Parker.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I'm very, very surprised Mark Benson has been picked ahead of Jeremy Lloyds. I don't know if Lloyds has stated a wish not to be appointed, as Peter Willey did when it was first conceived, but if he hasn't I can't see why he's not been picked.
Jeremy Lloyds is a very, very good Umpire (and Nigel Llong seems to be treading a similar path - watch out for him in a few more years) and Mark Benson never seems anything too special to me, though I've seen him less than some.
Asad Rauf certainly looked very, very impressive on the 2 occasions I saw him; Billy Doctrove looked OK, too.
 

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