Javed Miandad

[Xuhaib]

Westindies umpiring was terrible during the 88 tour by Pakistan maybe the side was so good they never needed the extra help by the umps but on the final day of third test the umpiring was blatantly biased and cost Pakistan a historic series win. Australian and English umpires were generally good but they could give a partial decisions at a crucial time of the game. Pakistan in Melbourne 89 and India in Adelaide 91 both received some rough decisions at crucial moments.I think we can all agree that umpiring was biased everywhere but some countries (Pakistan, India, Srilanka and NZL) were worse then others.

 

[smash84]

it is so easy to say with the benefit of hindsight

"why didn't they have neutral umpires back then?"

 

[SJS]

it is so easy to say with the benefit of hindsight

"why didn't they have neutral umpires back then?"

Well the reason is simple really. It is the same argument as was offered in later years when it came to introducing technology to assist decision making . . . " We must trust the umpires - do nothing to undermine their authority - mistakes will be made but overall the umpires are good and honest - things even out in the end anyway - blah blah blah"

The basic reluctance of man to accept let alone welcome and embrace change has plagued our game as it does every aspect of human endeavour. Thus change does get accepted finally but only after lots of time has been wasted.

There are some people, like Imran Khan in this case, who believe that change is a must and must come NOW. Unfortunately such people are few and those wanting to cling to status quo are legion.

We have a former Chief Justice of India who said 95 % of the people are idiots and he was pilloried by all and sundry. But this is what he meant. A vast majority just refuses to think for itself and just follows what is parroted by others. Hence India's ridiculous opposition to UDRS

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Imran was one of the pioneers of neutral umpiring.

 

[SJS]

Imran was one of the pioneers of neutral umpiring.

He was the one who advocated neutral umpires for years before it finally happened. All credit to him.

 

[smash84]

Imran was one of the pioneers of neutral umpiring.

Imran was standing in matches as neutral umpire?

 

[Bouncer]

Imran sure did was one visionary person - such an impact to not just Pak cricket but also to the game, it completely puts him head and shoulders above other three all rounders of his era.

He fought a lot of internal pressure from PCB in early-mid 80's in his quest to bring neutral umpiring first in Pak to prove a point to rest of cricketing community that it would be a good move for international cricket and hopefully other cricket boards would follow Pak's lead.

He eventually was able to get neutural umpires appointed by PCB for his final series in Pak before his scheduled retirement after 87WC. This series was against WI, credit to the man that he was able to convince PCB to have neutral umpires against (then)the strongest team in the history of the game - speaks of the confidence he had in his idea of having neutral umpires that he didnt even care of not getting any home umpire advantage that every other cricketing nation (at times)enjoyed, he didn't even want it against the mighty WI.

But the not only WI didn't return the favor when Pak toured WI in 88 and we saw one of the worst/most controversial umpiring in a high voltage cricket series

(for those who are not intimately familiar with what happened in that series, following would make a great reading)
-- > The coup that wasn't
The coup that wasn't | Regulars | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo
West Indies had gone a decade without losing a Test at home. Then along came Imran Khan and Co.............................
The final word must belong to Benjamin. "When I saw our captain crying in the dressing room at the end of the game, I realised how much it meant to him. To see the great Viv Richards in tears made me realise what cricket meant to him and how important this win was for West Indies."​

Perhaps Imran's hope was not to get WI's attention on the advantages on neutral umpiring but he perhaps wanted to get some attention from the Lords i.e the decision makers of cricketing world at that time and as it turns out like BCCI now Lords was not in any mode to do any favors to the game that might not go well for their home team's cricketing standings - so not only that they conveniently ignored what Imran and PCB did in 86 but also went ahead and appointed the same controversial umpires that were 'one of deciding factors' in 82 series for not only one tests but two if I am not mistaking here.

Imran's next home series as captain was 3 years later against India in 89 and in that series too, he pressured PCB to have neutral umpires appointed for all the test matches. Pak was scheduled to tour india in late 91, a series that eventually got cancelled but to best of my knowledge Indians had no plans to following Imran's and PCB's good will gesture and were not looking at option on neutral umpires. Like Eng in 87, they too went one step ahead and when test cricket resumed between the rivals in 99 - the familiar face of Ramaswami who gave Pak nightmeres at Bangalore in 87 was there at Chennai to great team Pak. luckily it was with one neutral umpire on field.

Imran WAG