Steve Bucknor retires

[duffer]

Yeah, we've had a long history with him before. Glad the guy has had his rep tarnished. Hideously overrated and deserves very little of the sympathy he got from after the Sydney Test.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, we've had a long history with him before. Glad the guy has had his rep tarnished. Hideously overrated and deserves very little of the sympathy he got from after the Sydney Test.

Wow.

 

[duffer]

Wow.

Just have an irrational dislike of the guy. Always thought he was a wanker for some reason. Good riddance to him.

 

[Burgey]

Just have an irrational dislike of the guy. Always thought he was a wanker for some reason. Good riddance to him.

Fair 'nuff.

 

[Smudge]

He sometimes laughed at appeals, but I'm fairly sure he did that to players of all teams.

And fair enough too - some of the appeals you see in international cricket are pathetic (I'm looking at you, Panesar).

 

[Polo23]

Now if only Koertzen would follow suit.

 

[Burgey]

We'd all like to bid a number of the umpires adieu, but are there any or many others around who would do a better job?

Best solution is to let teams umpire themselves, like low level park cricket. Takes lbws and anything bar blatant edges out of the equation.

 

[Anil]

Wow.

And here I was thinking there was only conspiracy in every bad caught behind decision.

i used to really like this guy some years back but he has declined markedly since and should have been let go long ago....and if he actually meant to mock dravid from his position as the impartial decision-maker, he is a bit of a jerk as well...whether it was intentional or just absolute rock-bottom ****ty umpiring, he cost india what should have been a fairly comfortable draw in the sydney test in the 2007-2008 series...

 

[Polo23]

We'd all like to bid a number of the umpires adieu, but are there any or many others around who would do a better job?

I have absolutely no doubt I could do a better job than Koertzen and Ashoka.

 

[Burgey]

I have absolutely no doubt I could do a better job than Koertzen and Ashoka.

Actually, you might well be right....

 

[howardj]

Best solution is to let teams umpire themselves, like low level park cricket. Takes lbws and anything bar blatant edges out of the equation.

So true.

When I used to play sub-districts, it was almost an unspoken pact that neither side would give anything other than blatant LBWs (not offering a shot when a full toss hits you on the toe, when you're playing a backfoot block on middle stump) or edges so loud that they could be heard by the guy who was next in.

It was good in a way.

 

[silentstriker]

Cricinfo - Bucknor riles the Indians

Cricinfo - On age and technology

There were other problems with him going back a while.

Ajit Agarkar had got Justin Langer lbw twice, with balls that pitched on leg, straightened and were hitting middle stump. Both were plumb, but both were given not out by Steve Bucknor. Later, Damien Martyn was plumb to Murali Kartik, and again Bucknor, who had made that shocking decision against Sachin Tendulkar at Brisbane, adjudged it not out. His decisions threatened to affect the outcome of a tense, even series. And it is surely unjust that the final result could be determined not by the excellence of the cricket, but the ineptness of the umpiring.

That was in 2004 series of Australia vs. India.

He wasn't singled out just because of what happened last year in that one match - it was a culmination. People who claim he was scapegoated for having one atrocious match don't know the history.

 

[Burgey]

Cricinfo - On age and technology

There were other problems with him going back a while.



That was in 2004 series of Australia vs. India.

He wasn't singled out just because of what happened last year in that one match - it was a culmination. People who claim he was scapegoated for having one atrocious match don't know the history.

Shocking, frankly. The number of crap decisions teams get from any one umpire is no excuse for that sort of thing.

It'd be like saying because Bowden gave some **** decisions in the 05 Ashes, the moment he gives some **** ones in 09 a team should demand he be sent home. You can't do that, the game would become a bigger shambles than it is now.

 

[silentstriker]

Shocking, frankly. The number of crap decisions teams get from any one umpire is no excuse for that sort of thing.

It'd be like saying because Bowden gave some **** decisions in the 05 Ashes, the moment he gives some **** ones in 09 a team should demand he be sent home. You can't do that, the game would become a bigger shambles than it is now.

At some point, if you feel you are repeatedly not getting the results you should get due to incompetence of one umpire, you have to do something. If the umpiring is in shambles it's because they are unaccountable, and are automatically defended no matter what. When a ref gets a shocker wrong in other sports, he is penalized either monetarily or by suspension, and fired for repeated offenses. The ICC publish the umpiring stats, but they don't release the methodology, and what do you know - they are all almost perfect. It's appalling, and does not have a place in a modern professional environment. Threatening to go home is childish, petulant and inane. If they had any backbone, India could have better used it to finish the series and see to it that the guy never umpired again.

Good riddance to the rubbish. I'd rather talk about cricket, and not have the whole thing soured by one man's incompetence - repeatedly.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah. If they ever get the referral thing right, hopefully it will take a lot of the sting out of these situations anyway, though after the last test with England-WI, who knows?

I think it's in for SA-Australia, so we'll get more of a look at it over here for this series.

 

[duffer]

Shocking, frankly. The number of crap decisions teams get from any one umpire is no excuse for that sort of thing.

It'd be like saying because Bowden gave some **** decisions in the 05 Ashes, the moment he gives some **** ones in 09 a team should demand he be sent home. You can't do that, the game would become a bigger shambles than it is now.

It's not just the bad decisions. From a lot of account he was an absolute douche towards the Indian team and management off the field as well as patronising them on it. People who think Sydney was just because of that Symonds decision are missing th epoint. It was a protest against the ICC not giving a damn about their numerous complaints beforehand as much as anything.

 

[_Ed_]

They really need to be allowed to use Hot Spot in that referral system, and maybe even Hawkeye. It was frustrating in the NZ v WI series that a decision could not be overturned due to insufficient evidence, when the umpires weren't allowed to see that evidence.

 

[IndGunner]

About time..

 

[jondavluc]

****ing hell harsh comments.He was a great umpire and should be treated as such instead of being insulted for a few bad umpiring decisions.

 

[Top_Cat]

Honestly, you don't hear this much bitching about Darrell Hair against the South Africans and he probably cost them a series win against Australia at home in 1993/94 and a slew of other poor decisions against them. Sure they reacted at the time (stump through the dressing room door and all that) but they let it go fairly quickly and got on with the business of beating everyone else. How is it relevant that Bucknor was a douche? Sounds just like every bloody person involved in high-level sport I've ever met.

Bucknor used to be a decent umpire. Not awesome but decent and there was a fairly strong down-turn in his rating for the last few years, this is true. But there have been far, far worse umpires and that's why they didn't last. The Indian team and fans complaints against him seem very petty, especially when I can barely think of a top-level umpire who hasn't been cast as utterly incompetant by the same team.