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Pre-dominance of incompetent English umpires on the ICC Elite Umpires Panel

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Llong and Illingworth aren't any worse than the rest of the panel, and when you always think all the umpires are ****, it's probably just harder than you think.
Yeah, indeed.

I was umpiring on the weekend and the fielding team lost their **** when I turned down a caught behind appeal. Bloke plays the sweep, ball lobs up and is taken. They were convinced it was glove, I had doubt in my mind and thought it was off the arm, just above the wristband of the glove. So I give it not out.

They start going crazy, cursing the quality of the umpiring. They fail to realise that a) gloved sweeps and legside strangles are the most ****ing awful decisions to have to make, b) international umpires get this **** wrong because it isn't easy, and c) there's a reason I'm not an international umpire.

The ball moves quickly and you only get one look, even at park level. Scale that up to international bowling speeds, the pressure of crowds, and higher stakes matches; it becomes pretty clear just how difficult a job umpires actually have. It's great that technology can support them and fix their errors, and things like that Voges no ball call are inexcusable even when you consider the difficulties of the job, but FMD umpires cop way more **** than they deserve.
 

TheJediBrah

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Yeah, indeed.

I was umpiring on the weekend and the fielding team lost their **** when I turned down a caught behind appeal. Bloke plays the sweep, ball lobs up and is taken. They were convinced it was glove, I had doubt in my mind and thought it was off the arm, just above the wristband of the glove. So I give it not out.

They start going crazy, cursing the quality of the umpiring. They fail to realise that a) gloved sweeps and legside strangles are the most ****ing awful decisions to have to make, b) international umpires get this **** wrong because it isn't easy, and c) there's a reason I'm not an international umpire.

The ball moves quickly and you only get one look, even at park level. Scale that up to international bowling speeds, the pressure of crowds, and higher stakes matches; it becomes pretty clear just how difficult a job umpires actually have. It's great that technology can support them and fix their errors, and things like that Voges no ball call are inexcusable even when you consider the difficulties of the job, but FMD umpires cop way more **** than they deserve.
Giving Nathan Lyon out on replay when he smashed a ball and there was a massive deflection is not hard.

Giving Khawaja not out when dozens of replays show a massive gap between the bat and ball is not hard.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Giving Nathan Lyon out on replay when he smashed a ball and there was a massive deflection is not hard.

Giving Khawaja not out when dozens of replays show a massive gap between the bat and ball is not hard.
This has literally nothing to do with what I'm saying.
 

TheJediBrah

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This has literally nothing to do with what I'm saying.
You're defending international umpires because it's hard, which it usually is. But not always. When shockers like that happen despite replays being available and the correct decision being blindingly obvious, eg. Nigel Llong v Nathan lyon, it's not because it's hard.

The post you responded to directly mentioned Nigel llong by name, as did the OP, in direct reference to the Nathan Lyon drs decision.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
You're defending international umpires because it's hard, which it usually is. But not always. When shockers like that happen despite replays being available and the correct decision being blindingly obvious, eg. Nigel Llong v Nathan lyon, it's not because it's hard.

The post you responded to directly mentioned Nigel llong by name, as did the OP, in direct reference to the Nathan Lyon drs decision.
I'm talking about standing umpires. The bloke in the TV box screwing up is in no way relevant to my point.

Stupid **** ups of simple things happen sometimes, and that's applicable in almost any job. It doesn't detract from the fact that Test match umpiring is not easy, and that the ICC Elite Panel umpires are overwhelmingly quite good at doing it.
 

TheJediBrah

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I'm talking about standing umpires. The bloke in the TV box screwing up is in no way relevant to my point.

Stupid **** ups of simple things happen sometimes, and that's applicable in almost any job. It doesn't detract from the fact that Test match umpiring is not easy, and that the ICC Elite Panel umpires are overwhelmingly quite good at doing it.
I don't really disagree with any of that. Never really disagreed with anything you said before either, just making a statement.

Sometimes when umpires **** up and people have a go on them it's harsh, other times it's well deserved. I'm not going to feel sorry for Nigel Llong being decimated by fans for an incompetent decision because it was well deserved. Hopefully he learns from it helps him avoid such **** ups in the future.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah the "ALL ENGLISH UMPIRES ARE INCOMPETENT SHOOT THEM" sentiment in the OP is utterly ridiculous, even if he is right to point out that Llong ****ed up (I've changed my mind on that one, ftr; originally thought it was a failure of process and then they confirmed that Llong ****ed up the process too)
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Yeah the "ALL ENGLISH UMPIRES ARE INCOMPETENT SHOOT THEM" sentiment in the OP is utterly ridiculous, even if he is right to point out that Llong ****ed up (I've changed my mind on that one, ftr; originally thought it was a failure of process and then they confirmed that Llong ****ed up the process too)
Thank god. Your position on that was extremely frustrating.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I don't really disagree with any of that. Never really disagreed with anything you said before either, just making a statement.

Sometimes when umpires **** up and people have a go on them it's harsh, other times it's well deserved. I'm not going to feel sorry for Nigel Llong being decimated by fans for an incompetent decision because it was well deserved. Hopefully he learns from it helps him avoid such **** ups in the future.
Yeah I think there's a big distinction between "Llong made a ****ing **** decision" and "Llong is a ****ing **** umpire". Dan was IMO too keen in denying the former to argue against the latter, while a lot of other people are too keen in suggesting that the former confirms the latter.
 
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Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I also tend to think TV umpiring and standing umpiring are actually entirely different skills, and that it's unlikely the best people for each job are actually the same people. We should be able to find specialist TV umpires eventually who are really good at analysing video and learning ICC directives. Standing umpiring is much more about concentration and eyesight.
 
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Howe_zat

Audio File
I also tend to think TV umpiring and standing umpiring are actually entirely different skills, and that it's unlikely the best people for each job are actually the same people. We should be able to find specialist TV umpires eventually who are really good at analysing video and learning ICC directives. Standing umpiring is much more about concentration and eyesight.
Anything to get you out of the thread tbh.
 

TheJediBrah

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I also tend to think TV umpiring and standing umpiring are actually entirely different skills, and that it's unlikely the best people for each job are actually the same people. We should be able to find specialist TV umpires eventually who are really good at analysing video and learning ICC directives. Standing umpiring is much more about concentration and eyesight.
Surely it can't be that difficult
 

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