England vs SA: Umpire controversy

16th August 2012,Ground: Lord’s (London),England vs South Africa 3rd Test Match.

Yesterday, in the morning session of the 3rd test match between England and South Africa, there was a controversy regarding the dismissal of Jacques Kallis. Umpire Dharmasena was unmoved when the English players appealed for a decision of caught behind, down the leg side. But as the English team was convinced, they took a referral of the 3rd Umpire (Rod Tucker). It was a tough decision for the 3rd umpire as he had to be convinced that the batsman’s right glove was touching the bat when the ball brushed the glove. On the big screen, it was clear that the batsman’s right glove was not touching the bat when the ball brushed the glove. So the expectation was that the decision should stay with the on-field umpire.

But to everybody’s surprise, Rod Tucker overturned Dharmasena’s decision, declaring Jacques Kallis out. While the English players were overjoyed with the decision, the South African camp was stunned with the decision and the commentators, as well, termed the decision as “ridiculous”. You don’t see the umpires making such errors with the available technologies very often, but it appears that Rod Tucker was not aware of the rule that the batsman should be given not out in such case.

A case happened in November 2010 where South African batsman AB de Villiers was given out (stumped) vs Pakistan in Abu Dhabi when his foot was clearly behind the crease. This was also a controversial matter which was discussed a lot. In this year as well, in the Commonwealth Bank series, Michael Hussey was given out (vs India), but as the fault was immediately detected that the 3rd umpire himself had pressed the wrong button, he came running from the umpire’s box to stop Hussey from going into the pavilion. This was an clear example of an umpire’s fault which was accepted and corrected by the respective umpire.

Alviro Petersen was also given out after a catch down the leg-side where the glove may well have lost contact with the bat, although the batsman declined the opportunity to review that decision. The players of both the teams as well as Rod Tucker will wait to see the decision of the English Cricket Board (ECB).