In cricket lingo, it is called the “howler” — a shocking umpiring decision that cannot be explained and usually provokes waves of criticism from one side.
It takes a really bad howler to unite critics from England and Australia, particularly when it involves Ashes contests that have featured plenty of controversy across about 130 years.
Usman Khawaja, if you note the reaction in Australia, seems to have been the victim of one of the worst howlers in history. The overwhelming majority of people — from the prime minister down — were scathing of the decision, which meant Australia’s No. 3 batsman was dismissed, caught behind, for one in the third Test in Manchester overnight.
Photo: AFP
One of cricket’s oldest laws — that the umpire’s decision is final — has been eroded in the last decade or so by technology which allows limited numbers of decisions to be referred to a third umpire, who has access to video replays and other technology. And that is what is causing the issue.
Cricket Australia is asking the International Cricket Council to explain why third umpire Kumar Dharmasena upheld an on-field call at Old Trafford, despite replay technology indicating that Khawaja’s bat made no contact with the ball — the “edge” being the essential ingredient for a caught-behind decision.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tweeted almost immediately: “That was one of the worst cricket umpiring decisions I have ever seen.”
Yesterday, Rudd replied to a direct tweet suggesting that Australia recall its “ambassador” from London and declare a republic instead of its current constitutional monarchy with Britain.
“That may be a little extreme. The recall that is. But what a bad decision!” Rudd replied.
Australian spin bowling great Shane Warne, working as a TV commentator at Old Trafford, said he was shocked that Dharmasena upheld on-field umpire Tony Hill’s initial decision to give Khawaja out.
“I can’t believe that,” Warne said, several times. “It’s just a staggering decision. The technology has shown clearly that there was enough evidence to overturn a mistake. There was no hot spot, there was no noise, so you just expect that [to be] given not out. That’s a shocker, that’s an absolute shocking decision.”
His commentary partner Ian Botham, who caused plenty of pain for Australians by helping England win some classic Ashes contests in the 1980s, agreed entirely.
Botham said it was clear to a commentary box stacked with former England captains that Khawaja was not out.
In Australia, where almost 1 million TVs were tuned in to the broadcasts from Old Trafford, Fox Sports commentators and former players Brendon Julian, Greg Blewett and Damien Fleming were outraged. Blewett said he had to be careful what he said in case he used a profanity on television.
As the hashtag “disgrace” trended on Twitter, former England captain Michael Vaughan added: “Feel for a young player who is trying to make his way in the game ... Really poor decision.”
Another former England captain, Alec Stewart, added: “That is a ridiculous decision by both the on & off field umpires. DRS creating yet more controversy. Any wonder players don’t walk!”
The DRS — an acronym for Decision Review System — enables the third umpire to review on-field decisions at the request of either the on-field umpires or the teams on the field. For caught decisions, it uses a combination of visual replays, thermal imaging and audio technology to determine if there was contact between bat and ball.
Despite all three technologies indicating there was no contact between bat and ball, the third umpire still upheld Hill’s initial on-field decision to give Khawaja out.
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney called the decision a “fiasco,” the Australian newspaper said the DRS has become the “third competitor in the Ashes series,” while the Sydney Morning Herald said the Khawaja call was the “howler of all howlers.”
Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh called for the officials to be fired.
“That is the most disgraceful decision I’ve ever seen. What an absolute joke. Put that down to human error — no fault of DRS,” Marsh said. “The bit people are missing is that technology gave the umpires all they needed to overturn that. Complete incompetence. Jobs should be lost.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but