Poor cricket, poorer umpiring
Photo: AFP
The performance of our national cricket team seems to have hit rock bottom. Such a disastrous Australian tour wasn't really expected. We are definitely better than our latest performance suggests. After such a performance even the most ardent supporter hangs his head down in shame and others take out their sharpest knives for further sharpening. In the midst of all this we seem to have overlooked a few things. A genuinely neutral umpire (which Peter Parker is not) would have given Michael Hussey out caught behind when he was trying the reverse sweep, and allowed Ashraful to have the benefit of doubt (the ball had pitched a shade outside the leg stump, part in, part out). Ashraful would probably have been out the very next delivery, but that is not the point that I am trying to make. The point that I am trying to make is that umpires automatically favour the top teams and the top batsmen. This was made clear in the recently concluded Test series between India and Sri Lanka. If the referral system had not been in place, the Sri Lankans would have been in deep trouble. In the ODI series, without the referral system, the result was reversed. Put your mind back to the time when the South Africans came to Dhaka to play their first Test series. Six decisions went against us. Khalid Manhood Sujan lost his match fee for protesting. The underdog has a chance of winning if the referral system becomes mandatory.
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