A Game of ‘Traffic Wardens’ by Taimur Azam

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Ground:	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Scorecard:	India v Pakistan
Player:	Inzamam-ul-Haq
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 30th March 2005

 

Are we living in a civilized cricketing era? A question players need to ask themselves when appealing to an umpire twice or more during a Test.

 

Surely it is the players' right to appeal but NOT if one is likely to be banned for a match as was the case in Inzamam's 'last stand' against Billy Bowden. Ironically, the other side of this lopsided coin is; if an umpire makes two poor decisions in a match its called 'human error' and yet the umpire can climb in status (ranking) within umpiring cricles but invisible to the fan.

 

When will we come out of this syndrome, is there any Law defined in modern cricket for not appealing or for excessive appealing? I don't think so.

 

An instant appeal for caught behind or leg before is something that comes naturally to any cricketer who reacts quickly and spontaneously right at the split-secong when the ball strikes. Thus, when appealing on his 'best judgement basis' the fielder or bowler must do it very quickly lest he be accused of appealing late and being ignored.

 

Is that not a dichotomy – on one hand excessive appealing and on the other the need to come up with a convincing quick appeal which does not allow time to reflect deeply before appealing. Then on top and especially in a Test match like the one in Bangalore there were emotions, national integrity and a desire to win so dominant - like a pressure cooker about to burst.

 

In any large city these days one sees Traffic Wardens who are paid for handing over parking tickets to people erring by parking on the wrong side of the road - is this the case with umpires and match referees?

 

I think it is time to also penalize umpires for giving poor decisions. It is also high time for the ICC to introduce a transparent points system or rankings for umpires to show their progress or status in terms of umpiring performance.

 

One can't help but feel sorry for 'gentle giant' Inzi for being rapped on the knuckles for appealing too many times in Bangalore and being too animated when what he thought were sure outs were inexplicably declined. So in fact he ended up having a handsome 'ticket' in his pocket.

 

I can only lament, where has good old cricket gone now?

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2005 azamtaimur@hotmail.com)