Cricket Umpire : Decision Makers on the Game Field

I got the idea of writing this post after seeing the play on Day 4 of the 2^nd Test match between India and South Africa recently, which India won. That was probably the first time I realized how significant a role umpires play in a cricket match, and how dumb I had been earlier for not realizing it! And it was then that I also understood that contrary to their significant role in cricket, their recognition is almost non-existent. You hardly find any award function or article extolling the great works of an umpire. Which is a pity, really, considering the tremendous amount of effort put in by those uniformed men of integrity.

Steve Bucknor

The word ‘umpire’ is derived from the French word ‘nompere’ (dont confuse with ampere you engineering geeks!) meaning not equal, i.e., not a member of any of the teams, impartial. He has the authority to make decisions on the cricket field compliant to the Laws of Cricket, the most important of which I guess we are all more or less aware of. The difference between a referee and an umpire is that a referee only presides over the game and does not make any decisions related to the outcome of the game.

There are basically two panels of umpires within the ICC – the Elite panel and the International panel. As the name implies, the Elite panel has more distinguished members than the International panel. The Elite panel consists of umpires of the likes of Daryl Harper, Simon Taufel, Billy Bowden, Steve Bucknor, David Shepherd, Rudi Koertzen and a few more illustrious and conspicuous names. These umpires, as we all know, are supposed to be the best in the world, and no doubt they are. These umpires stand in around 10 Tests and 15 ODIs every year. This panel of Elite umpires was formed in the year 2002 in order to reform the umpiring in International Cricket. Earlier (before 2002), just one of the umpires in a Test match was neutral and the both the umpires in ODIs were taken from the home nation. Since the formation of this panel, both the empires in a Test match and one of the umpires in an ODI are independent of the playing nations. I really wonder how there only Indian umpires acting as the officials in the ongoing India – South Africa ODI series.

Steve Bucknor holds the world record for having umpired the most number of Test Matches (128), followed by Rudi Koertzen (105), David Shepherd (92), Daryl Harper (88) and Darrell Hair (78). In ODIs, Rudi Koertzen holds the world record for most number of matches umpired (202), followed by Steve Bucknor (181), David Shepherd (172), Daryl Harper (161) and Simon Taufel ( 147). Ever given a thought to these world records too? The majority of the current cricket players of all the Test-playing and ODI-playing nations would not have played as many matches as these people have umpired! They toil the whole day by incessantly standing on the field from the bowling end to square leg and from square leg to bowling end, without stretching or relaxing. Just standing and standing and standing. It hardly needs mentioning that that is not an easy job at all. And that too with so much concentration devoted on each and every ball, right from the ball being delivered from the bowler’s hand to the ball being played or left by the batsman to the ball being collected or left by the fielder to the runs taken by the batsmen in the interim to the ball coming back to the keeper or the bowler (pardon me if I have missed out on anything in between this cycle!). Gosh!!! Just writing about this cycle has made me tired; I wonder how a Bucknor or a Koertzen manages to do it all day, all his life!! Ins’t it imperative that these tireless gentlemen receive some kind of recognition, if not from the ICC then at least from us? And oh, I almost forgot to mention that currently, there isn’t any Indian umpire in the Elite Panel.

Umpires Billy Bowden and Rudi Koertzen discuss the fading light, England v Australia, The Oval, September 11, 2005

The International Panel of Umpires, on the other hand, consists of umpires from each of the Test-playing nations. They are employed to officiate in the ODI matches played in their home nation and may also be called upon to assist the Elite panel of Umpires for overseas Test Matches, during busy cricket seasons. Amiesh Saheba and Shavir Tarapore are the only 2 Indian umpires who can officiate in any international Test or One-Day match. Both of these are umpiring in the ongoing India – SA ODI series.

If a player commits a mistake once, twice or even thrice in a match, his mistakes could be offset by the hard work and acuteness of the other team members. However, if an umpire commits a mistake in giving a wrong decision even once, that could turn the outcome of the match upside down, and hisory has been witness to countless such events. To say that at those times the concerned umpire draws flak from the media of the losing nation would be a huge understatement. To my mind, this criticism is justified and logical. The umpire deserves to be denounced. However, incidents like those happen only once in a blue moon and the rest of the times umpires around the world do a pretty decent job. Cricket history has been witness to this. So I think umpires deserve exaltation and reverence in equal measure for their professionalism and expertise, and currently that reverence is almost non-existent. If it were up to me, I’d have a category for the Best Umpire Award become a regular feature of every cricketing awards function around the globe. After all, it is the umpire who decides when it is a run and when it isn’t, when it’s a valid delivery and when it’s invalid, when the game has to be played and when it is to be abandoned and most importantly, when the batsman has to be given out and when not!