The Cricketing world has always been full of glamour, paparazzi and larger-than-life stories of celebrated people. Often considered as the “short-cut to fame” arena, we have seen people spend their lives in the desire to become a household name, thrashing a few records and becoming a role model in the field of Cricket. But somewhere in this fast moving sport, few essentials are intentionally or otherwise overlooked.
These primal people, who are criticised for their bad decisions more often than praised for the right ones, are the umpires. Umpires, whose wrong calls certainly become a game changer but the right ones take an immeasurable amount of concentration, knowledge and, not to forget, courage to make those judgements.
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It is almost impossible to even anticipate how an umpire would be adjudicating in the midst of all the noise, uproar and shout-outs within the stadium, let alone the meticulous side of it. Therefore, such magnificent talent is only handpicked after sharp observation of their ability & skill to create a panel of the best umpires, expecting the least scope for error.
One group of similar talent is the ICC Elite Panel which comprises of umpires thought to be the best in the world. Established in 2002, the panel is appointed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to officiate Test matches and One Day Internationals, globally.
Every year the selection of the umpires to be officiating the matches is revised based on their performance/correctness on the field. In a recent event, this panel was chosen to be kept constant for 2016-17 season citing an impressive degree of skill in their previous endeavour(2015-16).
The 2015-16 season was a pretty successful one for the panel as they effectively achieved a correct decision percentage of 95.6 percent in 220 matches across the three formats of Tests, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. Not only was there an improvement from the previous score of 94 percent but is the highest since the Decision Review System was introduced in cricket in 2008.
Taking note of the people who contributed to the climb, let’s glance through the 5 big names from the coveted Elite Panel of ICC umpires.
#1 Aleem Dar
In stark contrast to his eminent umpiring which took him places, Aleem Dar’s playing career for the Pakistan’s national side could never really take off in a span of a decade.
Post retirement from the sport as a player, the Pakistani cricket umpire and current member of the Elite Panel made his international umpiring debut in 2000 in a face-off between Sri Lanka and his national side – Pakistan. He first stood as an umpire at the age of 32 where, after noticing his impeccable precision in the game, he was chosen to umpire the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, within a gap of mere two years.
Since then he has earned a reputation as one of the best, and with Simon Taufel he represents the pick of the younger officials. To add a feather to his already shining cap, Aleem was also awarded ICC Umpire of the Year consecutively in 2009, 2010 & 2011.
Aleem’s journey could not be completely put across without mentioning the 2007 World Cup incident. In the Final match of that World Cup series, Dar was held responsible for misinterpreting the rules regarding bad light which led to his suspension for the Twenty20 World Championships in the following September.
Also recently, he was officiating in 2015 Cricket World Cup where he came under the scanner for giving a no ball against Rubel Hasan in Bangladesh's game against India in the quarter-final even though the ball looked below waist high.
But keeping the bad phases aside, Dar has always been ardently supported by his wife during the course to become one of the best umpires of his time. This was to an extent that his wife kept the news of the death of their daughter Jhaveri under wraps, only to let Dar focus on his job in 2003 when he was umpiring the World Cup matches in South Africa.
#2 Kumar Dharmasena
Dharmasena tasted the International waters for the first time in 1994, at the age of 22, against South Africa. That was the time when Sri Lanka were going through a rough patch and Dharmasena was the bowler that fit the bill for the then Sri Lankan team – with his quick off-spinners delivered with a slight unorthodox action.
Especially in Sri Lankan conditions, he would feel home and give his opponents cold feet in supporting role to the spin wizard - Muttiah Muralitharan. However, his cricketing career came to a standstill after the Oval Test in 1998, when the ICC questioned his bowling action but was cleared to play again in 2000.
Being a member of the Sri Lankan 1996 Cricket World Cup winning squad, Dharmasena wished to stay close to the game that he loved. And hence, following the announcement of his retirement in 2006, he spoke out about his plans to become a competitive umpire. He officiated for the first time as an umpire in 2009 overseeing a One Day International between India and Sri Lanka and remains the youngest ever Sri Lankan to umpire an International match.
His appointment to the Elite Panel came after he successfully adjudicated in the 2011 World Cup in India, where he was part of the panel of 18 umpires selected for the series. Last year, Kumar became the first cricketer to umpire and play in a World Cup final (2015 and 1996 respectively) during his career.
#3 Richard Kettleborough
The English international cricketer made his debut in the game as a left-handed top order batsman and an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler. He played with success for Yorkshire and Middlesex during the initial years and eventually was added to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) list of umpires in 2006.
Continuing to officiate matches, Richard made his international umpiring debut in the Twenty20 between England and Australia at Old Trafford in 2009.
Jumping leaps and bounds from there he earned his first World Cup panelist title when he got selected for 2011 World Cup hosted in India and subsequently gained promotion to the Elite Panel of ICC in the same year, in view of his accurate decisive powers.
He is, currently the youngest umpire serving on that panel - at 43 - and has three Umpire of the Year trophies under his belt for the years 2013, 2014 & 2015. These trophies, that he managed to win after just two years of being promoted to the ICC Elite Panel, say loads about his work and excellence.
#4 Marais Erasmus
Marais Erasmus, a former South African all-rounder, served his country in first-class cricket before he commenced his umpiring career in 2006. He is a member of the Elite Panel since 2010 and has stood for two cricket World Cups – 2011 & 2015 during this tenure.
The South African official had been at the centre of a wealth of disputable decisions during the 2013 edition of Ashes. Marais was observed goofing up on decisions on more than one occasion during the series.
Disappointed with Marais’ performance, former England opening batsman-turned-cricket pundit Geoffrey Boycott had even called on the ICC to drop umpire Marius from the remainder of the Ashes series.
Even in the recently concluded IPL 2016, Marais faced a lot of flak for his incorrect judgment against Quinton de Kock, where he mistook a hit on his helmet for an uppercut and gave a caught behind the stumps verdict which got Delhi Daredevil’s opener dismissed for no fault of his. Though the Daredevils went on to win the match, but fans lashed out big time on the incident.
#5 Ian Gould
Ian Gould has been a hard-core sportsperson from the day people started to notice his skills or even before that. Gould, a county veteran, has played 18 ODIs for England and is a respected umpire on the international circuit today.
Ian has played numerous roles in various fields - a former chairman of English football club - Burnham FC, ex-goalkeeper for Arsenal (1971) and Slough Town, former batsman for England cricket team, kept wickets during the 1983 cricket World Cup and now an ICC Elite Panel umpire. In a rare scenario, he is one umpire who loves to share a laugh with the players and sees the lighter side of things.
A genial and popular character, he joined the first-class umpires panel in 2002, was promoted to the international panel in April 2006 and the elite panel three years later in 2009. He is one of the constant umpires in the panel officiating for World Cup matches since 2007.
However, the most controversial of all his judgments was the one where he incorrectly gave Tendulkar out for 99 in a One-Day International in 2007 against England, which he later accepted as a mistake.
Sometimes seen as the most lucrative position to watch the match from, an umpire’s task is sure not an easy one. Because no matter what, the missed 5 percent of error is the one which is remembered and always open to criticism, especially in today's liberate world of social media, where everyone is a judge.
In such cases, all one can do is give a benefit of doubt to people who stand for hours, glare with attention and accept mistakes, if done, on an international platform.
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