Umpiring: Biased or inconsistent? Pathetic, perhaps.
The other men whose blunders we notice, of course, are those in white. Generally, there is little point to talk of umpiring blemishes but sometimes, if aligned with an attitudinal observation, some criticism can be poked. Darrell Hair’s officiating in Faisalabad teetered between the officious and the obtuse. At times, it seemed rejecting appeals was foregone, no matter the validity. Pakistan, and particularly Kaneria, don’t endear themselves to umpires with their appealing - and it can be excessive - but that shouldn’t affect the way any appeal is treated. *** *** In Faisalabad, Hair erred on numerous occasions. He was one of the culprits in the Inzamam run-out, but was also involved in the Salman Butt fracas. Butt claimed Hair hadn’t spoken to him before warning him about running on the pitch and with one of those warnings, Hair appeared too eager to see an indiscretion where there wasn’t one. When Inzamam later swept and then ran halfway down the pitch for the first of his three runs, beguilingly no word came from Hair. ***
He missed a Collingwood inside edge today and coupled with Rudi Koertzen appearing to premeditate his rejections of appeals reasonable, plumb, ridiculous or otherwise, it was understandable why some journalists, foreign and local, were bemused at the day’s end to put it mildly.
Sincerely,
Captain Lota