What are the top four things that we don't see in cricket these days?

#1 Home Umpires

Michael Holding kicking the stumps in disgust

Remember the West Indian tour of New Zealand in 1979-80 and that iconic picture of Michael Holding kicking the stumps in dissent?

That one picture, and the tour as a whole, summarized what the visiting teams had to endure during that era of 'Home Umpires'.

Unlike today, until the late 80s there was no concept of neutral umpires. The officials were of the home team's origin, and foreign teams would regularly accuse them of making malicious decisions against them - especially in the sub-continent.

The first decisive step to correct that came in November 1986, when two Indian umpires - CK Ramaswamy and Piloo Reporter - officiated in the Pakistan vs West Indies Test match at Lahore.

The permanent move was, however, championed by former Pakistan captain Imran Khan, who was fed up with the continuous carping after every series in Pakistan. Khan invited two English officials for the home series against India in 1989-90 (Tendulkar's debut series).

The ICC took a cue from that and one neutral umpire per Test was introduced on an experimental basis in 1992. That was increased to two neutral umpires 10 years later - the move was made permanent from India's 2002 tour of the Caribbean.