RAIN AGAIN ON THE HORIZON
FOR PREMIER LEAGUE GAMES
[EN695-3407]
"A shower or two" is the current outlook for Premier League games scheduled for the Hobart area tomorrow but it appears that most matches will be able to be completed that day, however, the outlook for Sunday looks more doubtful with Bureau of Meteorology computers suggesting that 15-25 mm of rain could fall across the region.
A cold front is expected to pass across Hobart overnight Friday-Saturday and it appears that grounds may be a little damp first thing tomorrow, but a broad trough of low pressure is projected to move in from the north-west late on Saturday evening bringing moist south-east winds up from Storm Bay by Sunday morning.
TCUSA Members wishing to monitor the weather situation in the lead up to, or on the day of, the game, or ultra-violet predictions for either day, can do so by going to the 'Weather Outlook' section of the TCUSA web site.
DAR, HILL FOR BOXING DAY
ASHES TEST
[EN695-3408]
Aleem Dar of Pakistan, the International Cricket Council's 2010 'Umpire of the Year', and his Elite Umpire Panel (EUP) colleague Tony Hill of New Zealand, have been named as the on-field umpires for this year's Boxing Day Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The pair will each be involved in four of this summer's Ashes Tests, other match officials for the five-game series being umpires 'Billy' Bowden of New Zealand, Billy Doctrove of the West Indies and Marais Erasmus of South Africa, plus match referees Jeff Crowe, another Kiwi, and Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka.
Crowe is to manage the first three Tests in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and Madugalle the last two in Melbourne and Sydney. Dar and Doctrove will be on the field for the First Test in Brisbane in just under two weeks with Hill the television umpire, before Erasmus joins Hill in Adelaide and Doctrove moves into the TV position, then Dar will fly in to Perth to occupy the third umpire slot with Erasmus and Doctrove out on the field. At the MCG Erasmus will be the television umpire supporting Dar and Hill, then the last Test will see Bowden and Dar together with Hill the third umpire.
Dar's three Tests on the field will take his tally in the longest form of the game to 63 matches, 15 of which will have been played in Australia, and 10 part of an Ashes series. The Pakistani will be standing in his fourth-straight Australia-England series and third MCG Boxing Day Test in the past five years, one of them involving the last Ashes Test there and the other South Africa. For Hill the two Tests he will stand in will be only his second and third in Australia, his first here being at the Gabba in Brisbane in 2007 when Sri Lanka were the visitors. His total list of Tests will move to 22 following the MCG Test, a ground he has stood at once previously, that being in a One Day International (ODI) in February 2008.
Bowden's single match will be his sixty-fifth Test overall, seventeenth in Australia, seventh at the SCG and eighth in the three Ashes series he has stood in since 2005. For Doctrove his two Tests on the field will be his 30th and 31st, seventh and eighth in Australia and third and fourth in an Ashes series. Erasmus, the newest EUP member of the five umpires who was in Australia recently for the one-day series against Sri Lanka (E-News 687-3371, 23 October 2010), has been given two Tests on the field and a third in the television suite, his first in Australia and by far the highest profile of the three Tests, two in Bangladesh and one in Birmingham, he has stood in to date. The Boxing Day Test will be his tenth overall in the third umpire's chair.
Of the match referees, Madugalle's two Tests will be his 121st and 122nd as a referee and thirteenth and fourteenth Ashes games, while the MCG Boxing Day appointment is his seventh in the past 14 years. Only one of the 21 Tests he played for Sri Lanka from 1982-88 was in Australia, but it was in Perth, however, he did play eight ODIs in Australia, four each at the MCG and SCG. Now Florida-based Crowe, who also played Tests for his country around the same time as Madugalle, will see his tally as a referee in Tests move to 45, nine of which will have been in an Ashes series. He is no stranger to Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, four of his 39 Tests as a player being held at those grounds.
TASMANIANS NAMED FOR
WNCL MATCHES
[EN695-3409]
Two Tasmanians are amongst the nine umpires who have been named to stand in the six Twenty20 and three one-day Womens National Cricket League (WNCL) games that are to be played in Adelaide, Hobart and Perth in mid-December. Tasmania State Umpire Panel members Jamie Mitchell and Wade Stewart will be involved in two T20 and single one-day WNCL games that are to be played at Bellerive between Tasmania and Victoria, their second such assignment this season, the first being in Launceston (E-News 682-3346, 15 October 2010).
Apart from the Tasmanians, other umpires named for the matches are South Australians Kumar Chandrakumar, Andy Collins, Thomas McLeod and Luke Uthenwoldt for the games in Adelaide, and for those in Perth, Western Australians Matthew Hall, Nathan Johnstone and Dean Trigg. Hall and Trigg were named for women's games played last month (E-News 677-3322, 5 October 2010), while Collins, McLeod and Uthenwoldt are to stand in matches in the women's series over the next few weeks (E-News 686-3367, 21 October 2010). The latter will also stand in the men's Under-19 national championship series in Brisbane next month (E-News 689-3383, 26 October 2010).
Former first class umpire Kim Perrin will be the match referee for the three WNCL games in Adelaide, and former Test umpire Terry Prue for those in Perth. Western Australia-based member of Cricket Australia's Umpire High Performance Panel, and another former Test umpire, Ric Evans, will be in Hobart for the three matches Mitchell and Stewart are to stand in at Bellerive.
BIRD WOULD 'NOT HAVE SURVIVED' TODAY'S
TV SCRUTINY, CLAIMS ICC MANAGER
[EN695-3410]
The International Cricket Council's (ICC) push for the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) is not an indication that umpiring standards have slumped over the last few decades, says ICC General Manager Cricket and former South African player David Richardson. Dubai-based Richardson singled out former England umpire 'Dickie' Bird in an interview with the 'Gulf News' this week, during which he said that "there is a general perception that umpiring standards have fallen over the years, but I can assure you that after having played in the seventies, eighties and nineties that the standard of umpiring today is high".
Richardson told the newspaper that "television technology has made the job of umpires almost impossible and for that reason alone we decided that we cannot leave the umpires to the wolves and we need to use technology to help them make decisions". He mentioned statistics to justify UDRS use, saying that "in the 23 Tests in which [the system has been] used since September 2009, we have recorded 84 possible on-field umpiring errors" out of a total of 1,011 appeals.
Of those 1,011 appeals, there were 218 requests for reviews of umpiring decisions, 57 of them being overturned after the third umpire looked at them via television replays. In other words "players were correct 26 per cent of the time [but] in vast majority of the reviews the umpires were [shown to be] correct", said Richardson. The UDRS has resulted in the overall correct decision ratio going up from 92.04 to 97.68 per cent "a five per cent increase", he said.
Richardson mentioned former England international umpire 'Dickie' Bird in his comments about the benefits of the UDRS to the 'Gulf News'. The newspaper reported him as saying that "Bird never gave a batsmen out leg before unless he was sure that the ball was going to hit the middle stump [and] anything outside [that] he would give not out". The senior ICC manager is then said to have stated that "today, Bird would not have survived because he would have been critcised to the full and teams may have even flown home in the middle of a series because of Bird's refusal to give leg before decisions". Bird was the umpire in only one of the 42 Tests Richardson played in the period from 1991-98.
MARKER PEN NAME 'WRITE-IN'
LEADS TO HEARING
[EN695-3411]
Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has been found not guilty of breaching the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Code of Conduct (CoC) during his side's the fifth and final One Day International (ODI) against South Africa in Dubai on Monday. Yousuf's name on the back of what the ICC says was a "borrowed shirt" was written with a marker pen which was a violation of part of the ICC's Code that deals with "appropriate and professional standards of appearance on the field on play".
Yousuf pleaded not guilty to the offence and as required by the CoC Zimbabwean match referee Andy Pycroft held a hearing after the match. He said afterwards that in making his decision to find the player not guilty, he "took into account that Yousuf was required by [team] management representing the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to wear the offending shirt as he had arrived in Dubai for the Test series [against South Africa] and not for the ODIs [and] as such, he didn’t bring with him any coloured clothing". "The matter should now be referred by the ICC to the PCB pursuant to the relevant section of the Clothing and Equipment Rules and Regulations", concluded Pycroft.
'EYE CARE' SPONSORSHIP
FOR KIWI UMPIRES
[EN695-3412]
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has entered into a commercial partnership with eye care specialists 'Specsavers' that will provide sponsorship for all domestic cricket umpires. The company has over 45 stores throughout New Zealand and franchises in a total of 10 countries, last year selling more than 11 million frames.
NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said that the new sponsorship "is a positive step for both organisations", describing it as an "exciting new relationship" that is "going to have a positive impact on the sport". No details were provided as to the amount of money involved in the sponsorship of the time over which the arrangement will run. Under the deal the Specsavers logo will be visible on the uniforms of all NZC umpires used in first class, List A and other competitions played in New Zealand.
Australian eye care company 'Eyelines' is the sponsor of cricket umpiring in Tasmania.
Monday, 15 November 2010
TROTT PLANS TO CONTINUE
WITH PRE-BALL ROUTINE
[EN696-3413]
English batsman Jonathan Trott plans to keep Australia's bowlers waiting for as long as he has to during the forthcoming Ashes series, says an article published in the 'Sydney Morning Herald' (SMH) on Friday. England's first drop engages in lengthy preparations before each delivery, marking the line of the stump and thumping down uneven cracks, however, he says he won't be changing that routine in the forthcoming series, even though his England team mates have ribbed him about his approach.
Trott told the SMH's Jamie Pandaram that he just goes about his "business in a way that's helped me be successful in the past, and hopefully will be this tour as well". ''If [the Australians have] got a problem, [they should] have a word with the umpire, and the umpire will have a word with me", he says. "That's the way I'll continue to do it [and] it's just something people pick up on because other guys don't do it [for] it sticks out like a sore thumb because it's different maybe", he continued, as he has "never got stick for it in County or any other cricket, it's just since there's all the media and people watching it".
Cape Town born Trott earned the ire of South African players last austral summer when he continuously held up bowlers with his routine. Team mate Graeme Swann says that he "can probably understand South Africa's frustrations because I've stood at slip calling him every name under the sun for Nottinghamshire over the years [and] it's quite nice to have it happen to someone else".
Last Friday in Delhi, umpires S Ravi and Shavir Tarapore had to step in and stop an argument between the captains of the Railway and Assam sides during a first class match over such a matter. Railway skipper Murali Kartik, whose side was in the field, thought his Assam counterpart Amol Muzumdar who was at the crease, was taking too long to get ready to face deliveries. Just what happened out on the field is not clear, however, match referee Manu Nayyar summoned both skippers after the day's play to discuss the rift, however, both dismissed the spat as "no big deal'.
Law 42.10 states that it is "unfair for a batsman to waste time" and that "in normal circumstances, the striker should always be ready to take strike when the bowler is ready to start his run up". Should umpires judge that either batsman is wasting time by failing to meet that requirement, the offenders are required to be given a first and final warning, and if there is any further time wasting by any batsman in that innings, the umpire shall, "at the appropriate time while the ball is dead", proceed to "award five penalty runs to the fielding side".
On the same day in the Delhi match an appeal for a bat-pad catch against Assam batsman Kumnal Saika was upheld after referral by the waving of a red flag from the pavillion. The Board of Control for Cricket in India is using video replays to assist with referrals in its matches this season, but as signal lights are not available at many grounds, the match referee conveys the outcome of a referral using different coloured flags (E-News 683-3351, 18 October 2010).
'The Age' newspaper in Melbourne reported yesterday that the Victorian Premier League club Northcote were so concerned about the fact that their opponents Geelong took what journalist Brad Beitzel states was 13 minutes to bowl the last four balls of Northcote's innings in a match earlier this month that they lodged a formal protest with Cricket Victoria (CV). Beitzel's report contains no details of just what occurred and what the actions of the umpires were, but CV dismissed the protest. Northcote president Mark Sundberg was quoted as saying that "we're not happy with the outcome but we accept the decision", while Geelong chose not to comment about the situation that prevailed.
'BLOCKER' AIMING AT TEST
MATCH APPOINTMENT
[EN696-3414]
Former Australian player and now National Umpire Panel (NUP) member Paul Wilson says that his goal is to umpire Test cricket sometime in the future, according to an article published in the 'Newcastle Herald', his home-town newspaper, on Friday. Now based in Western Australia, Wilson was asked how such an accomplishment would compare to winning a 'baggy green' cap in what was his only Test in 1998, and he said that it will be "a different type of pride but still one of those things I'm aiming for".
"I know how hard it was to play a Test match and I know certainly how hard it's going to be to umpire one as well, so I'm just looking forward to the journey", he says. Wilson did not score a run or take a wicket in his solitary Test, which was played in the middle of what now appears to have been a "golden era" in Australian cricket where he competed for spots against the likes of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and now fellow NUP member Paul Reiffel.
Wilson, 38, made his umpiring debut at first class level in November last year (E-News 513-2644, 27 October 2009), and was appointed to the NUP last June just four years after starting his officiating career after being fast-tracked via Cricket Australia's Project Panel (E-News 611-3066, 25 May 2010). He is scheduled to stand in his fifth first class game this Wednesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the home side takes on Tasmania, his colleague being Mick Martell, another NUP member who is based in Western Australia, with Ric Evans, another official from west of the Nullabor, being the match referee.
APPEAL ON 'DECIDING-SCORE' METHOD
DISMISSED IN VICTORIA
[EN696-3415]
Cricket Victoria's (CV) Pennant Committee Appeals Tribunal last week dismissed St Kilda's objection as to how the result of a rain-effected 45-over one-day Second Grade match against Casey-South Melbourne (CSM) on the last weekend of October was decided, according to 'The Age' newspaper in Melbourne yesterday. CV, which is using Cricket Australia's split innings format for its one-day games this season (E-News 672-3294, 24 September 2010), is said to have ruled that the use of the deciding-score method, where a team's best 20 overs are counted if a match can not be completed, was appropriate.
CSM were all out for 110 in the thirty-third over they faced but rain stopped play before St Kilda had a chance to return to the crease for a second time to add to the 3/57 they had scored from the 20 overs they received in their initial batting period. St Kilda could not make the semi-finals of the Second grade one-day competition but were said to be chasing the points for the overall-season ladder, and appear to have had the support of the Melbourne Cricket Club which is reported to have written to the pennant committee seeking clarification about the matter.
'The Age' report says that the St Kilda Second XI's situation was the same as the one that cost Fitzroy-Doncaster's First Grade side a spot in that competition's semi-finals. CV's somewhat complex 'deciding-score' method is detailed in section 19.7.4 of Playing Conditions for First and Second Grades in 2010-11 at: http://premier.cricketvictoria.com.au/files//season_10-11/rules/rule_19.pdf
EIGHT UMPIRES USED FOR
WCL TOURNAMENT IN KUWAIT
[EN696-3416]
Eight umpires, six of whom were flown in to Kuwait, stood in the 20-match World Cricket League Division 8 tournament that ended in Kuwait City on Friday (E-News 693-3402, 5 November 2010). In addition to New Zealand umpire Tony Hill, a member of the International Cricket Council's Elite Umpires Panel, the others who took part were: Riaz Chaudhry (Kuwait), Fidel Jaary (United Arab Emirates), Mark Hawthorne (Ireland), JS Nathan (Kuwait), Afzalkhan Pathan (Oman), Ashwani Rana (Thailand), and Theunis van Schalkwyk (Namibia).
Score cards available indicated that Hill stood with Chaudhry, Hawthorn, Nathan and van Schalkwyk during his week in Kuwait. Former Indian first class player Satayabrata Mukherjee was the match referee for the 12 preliminary games involving the Bahamas, Bhutan, Germany, Gibraltar, Kuwait, Suriname, Vanuatu and Zambia, David Jukes of England, an ICC regular in such tournaments, looking after the semi finals and multiple finals matches that decided the final order of the teams.
SPOT-FIXING HEARING
SET FOR JANUARY
[EN696-3417]
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has set a January date for a hearing into spot-fixing charges against three Pakistan cricketers who were suspended after allegations arose in England at the end of August during their side's tour of England. Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif are to face a hearing that is to be conducted by the ICC's Anti Corruption Tribunal in Doha, Qatar from 6-11 January.
Late last month Butt and Amir appealed unsuccessfully against the provisional handed to them by the ICC after Amir and Asif were questioned by British police following allegations published in the 'News of the World' newspaper about the final Test against England at Lord's (E-News 661-3263, 31 August 2010). It was claimed that both bowlers deliberately delivered no-balls at pre-arranged times during the Test, with Butt, who was captain, also said to be involved, in return for money from a bookmaker's "middle man".
Fellow seamer Wahab Riaz was also questioned by police, whose investigation, which isseparate from the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit's own probe, remains ongoing, although no criminal charges have yet been brought. Michael Beloff QC, who chaired the Code of Conduct Commission that rejected the appeals by Butt and Amir, will also chair the full tribunal hearing into allegations made against the trio.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
TEST DEBUTS FOR OXENFORD,
KETTLEBOROUGH
[EN698-3418]
Australia's Bruce Oxenford and England's Richard Kettleborough are to make their Test debuts in the three-match series between Sri Lanka and the West Indies over the next few weeks. The appointments by the International Cricket Council (ICC) mean that three umpires will have made their Test debuts this month, Sri Lankan Kumar Dharmasena having done so in India two weeks ago, and suggest that they and England's Nigel Llong, who is to stand in India later this week (E-News 691-3392, 30 October 2010), constitute the ICC's four-man 'emerging' group for 2010-11.
Oxenford, 50, has been named for the Third and final Test in Pallekalla in the city of Kandy which starts on the first day of December, his on-field colleague being ICC Elite Umpire Panel member Asad Rauf of Pakistan who will be standing in a Test for the thirty-fourth time. For the Queenslander, who is the eighty-ninth Australian to be appointed to a Test in the game's 133 year history, the match in Pallekalla will be the fifty-fifth first class match he has stood in since his debut at that level at the Gabba in Brisbane in November 2001.
Kettleborough, 37, who like Dharmasena, Llong and Oxenford is a former first class player and current a member of the ICC's second-tier International Umpires Panel, is standing in the first two Tests in Sri Lanka, Australian Steve Davis being his partner in the opening game in Galle this week, which is his twenty-ninth Test, and Rauf the second in Kettherama which starts today week. The Englishman debuted at first class level just five months after Oxenford in April 2002, and the First Test is his eighty-seventh first class game as an umpire, a match in which he becomes England's 110th Test official.
Another former first class cricketer, Australian Alan Hurst, will be the match referee for the Tests and as the Umpire Decision Review System will be in operation for the Tests, the ICC have appointed Rauf, Davis and Australian Rod Tucker as third umpires for the three games respectively.
Oxenford is to stay on in Sri Lanka after the Test to work as the neutral umpire in the five One Day Internationals (ODI) the home side and the tourists are to play in the lead up to Christmas, a series that will take his ODI tally to 22 matches. India's Javagal Srinath, the sixth of seven officials for the Tests and ODIs who has played first class cricket, will be the match referee for the ODIs and by series end he will have officiated as a referee in a total of 98 ODIs.
The ICC only announced the Test and ODI appointments for the Sri Lankan matches last night after the First Test got underway yesterday, however, there were hints in the umpiring selections by Cricket Australia two weeks ago for domestic matches next month that Oxenford had been selected for an international match overseas (E-News 693-3398, 5 November 2010).
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
HARPER EQUALS SHEPHERD'S TEST
MARK, EXTENDS GROUND RECORD
[EN698-3419]
Australian umpire Daryl Harper has set a new record by standing at his 50th Test venue as an umpire during the Second Test between Pakistan and South Africa which is currently underway at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 59-year-old from Adelaide is standing in his 92nd Test match, which equals the record of the late David Shepherd of England, achieving both new marks at a ground that becomes the 103rd around-the-world to have staged a Test match.
Harper, who made his debut as a Test umpire in an Ashes series game between Australia and England at Perth in 1998, has since gone on to stand at the highest level of the game in all 10 Test playing countries and the UAE. Over the past 12 years he has been on the field at seven grounds in nine Tests in the West Indies (7/10), six each in England, India and New Zealand (6/11, 6/8 and 6/11 respectively), five in Australia and South Africa (5/7 and 5/13), four each in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (4/6, 4/5 and 4/16 respectively), two in Zimbabwe (2/3), and one in Dubai in the UAE before the current game. The ground he knows best in a Test context is that at Galle in Sri Lanka where he has stood in seven such contests.
In reaching Shepherd's Test tally the Australian is now equal third on the all-time Test list behind record holder Steve Bucknor of the West Indies with 128 and Rudi Koertzen of South Africa with 108, both of whom have now retired. Harper, who has averaged seven Tests a year since his debut, with a high of 13 in 2002, appears likely to move past Shepherd in Test terms over the next six months, and could reach the 100 mark if his umpiring contract with the International Cricket Council is extended for another year next June. The South Australian is the last original member of the ICC's Elite Umpires Panel who is still with the group.
RAIN ON THE HORIZON FOR
MID-WEEK T20 GAMES
[EN698-3420]
Rain is again on the horizon for the Twenty20 (T20) First Grade Premier League matches that Cricket Tasmania has scheduled for grounds around Hobart on Wednesday evening. Bureau of Meteorology forecasts issued this morning are for "rain developing" as a trough of low pressure approaches Tasmania from the west during the day, with current computer rain fall forecasts suggesting grounds in the region could receive 10-15 mm of precipitation during the day.
There is a possibility that rain may not arrive until after the T20s have concluded, however, the situation will not be clearer until Wednesday morning and those managing matches will need to up-date themselves on the weather situation via the 'Weather Outlook' tab of the TCUSA web site.
Members are reminded that the TCUSA Training-Appointments meeting that was originally scheduled for Wednesday night will now not go ahead, with members instead being encouraged to attend the games to support and learn from the senior umpires who will be on the park. Match appointments for the coming weekend will for this week only be sent out via e-mail, or letter for those without electronic access.
WINDIES SPINNER'S ACTION
QUERIED BY UMPIRES
[EN698-3421]
West Indies spinner Shane Shillingford has been reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a suspected illegal bowling action following the First Test against Sri Lanka in Galle last week. Shillingford joins off-spinner colleagues such as Saeed Ajmal, Johan Botha, Shoaib Malik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and others, whose actions have been questioned by match officials over the last few decades.
Shillingford, who took five wickets in what was only his fourth Test, was reported by on-field umpires Steve Davis and Richard Kettlebrough, as well as television umpire Asad Rauf and fourth umpire Tyron Wijewardene (E-News 698-3418, 16 November 2010). The umpires' report is said to have cited concern over the straightening of the spinner's arm while bowling some deliveries "to the degree that may constitute an illegal action".
Under ICC regulations Shillingford's action will now be scrutinised in detail by a member of the ICC panel of human movement specialists, an examination that must be conducted within the next three weeks. Should his action be found to be illegal after that evaluation, he will be suspended until sufficient adjustments have been made to his delivery style. However, he will be able to play the Second Test which starts in Colombo later today as any possible ban from international cricket would not come into place until the West Indies Cricket Board receives a report of the assessment.
Shillingford, from Dominica, is in the squad for today's Test and it appears that he will be playing in that game for West Indian coach Otis Gibson says that "the entire team is behind [Shillingford] and he knows he has our full support". "Our job is to keep Shane focused on the upcoming match and the series [for] he's a key part of our bowling unit", says Gibson.
ICC MATCH REFEREE WINS
KARNATAKA POST
[EN698-3422]
Current International Cricket Council match referee and former Indian fast bowler Javagal Srinath has been elected as the Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in India for the next three years, defeating former international umpire Araniu Jayaprakash by 245 votes in a ballot held on the weekend (E-News 694-3405, 9 November 2010). Srinath was part of the ticket of former Indian captain Anil Kumble who challenged incumbent KSCA President Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, a move that saw Kumble's group win 23 of the two-dozen positions that were up for election.
MOST UMPIRES WANT UDRS
SAYS KOERTZEN
[EN698-3423]
Former South African umpire Rudi Koertzen believes the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) is beneficial for the game and that "99 per cent" of his colleagues "are in favour of the system as nobody likes to make a wrong decision". Koertzen also said in an interview he gave to ESPN this week that in his view 60 is the appropriate age for those on the International Cricket Council's (ICC) top-level Elite Umpires Panel (EUP) to retire from the international game.
Asked if the UDRS "undermine the authority of the on-field umpire and impacted on [their] ego", Koertzen said it does not, for when the umpire is "the only guy in the world who doesn't know whether you made a right or the wrong decision while millions of people actually see it [on television], it's safe to fall back on technology [for] who wants to see people slamming you in newspapers for a bad decision?" "It's not about ego", he says, "it's about being honest to your job as you only get a split second to make a decision [and] if you have technology, why not use it?"
Koertzen, whose last Test four months ago was played when he was well into his sixty-second year, believes that "60 is the right age to retire" from the EUP as "people are not going to remember you for all the good decisions you made over the years, but for the bad ones you made in [your] last two years". "I was very fortunate to have never been overtly criticised", he says, and "I accepted my mistakes whenever I made one and was never afraid to say sorry for my wrong decisions".
Journalist Jepher Christopher queried Koertzen on the elevation of former Sri Lankan off-spinner and now international umpire Kumar Dharmasena to Test level "after he has officiated in just 19 One Day Internationals" (E-News 691-3392, 30 October 2010). Koertzen is quoted as saying that that "is a very good question but I feel it's good to have former players as on-field umpires even if they haven't officiated in too many matches". "When I started at Test level, I had umpired for 10 years and stood in a lot of first class games before being selected" and it took 16 years as an umpire before he was appointed to "the ICC panel in 1997". But players like Dharmasena "have [also] seen the game from close quarters for quite sometime".
Koertzen is now the ICC's Regional Umpires Performance Manager for Africa (E-News 674-3311, 29 September 2010). He said in August that he had suggested to Cricket South Africa (CSA) that he stand in "selected four-day and one-day [domestic] games" with "some of [his country's] young, upcoming umpires" in order "to nurture them into the system" and "step in if any trouble" develops with players (E-News 660-3261, 30 August 2010). As yet CSA has not taken up that offer.
ICC SEEKS WORLD-WIDE TIGHTENING
OF ANTI-CORRUPTION CODES
[EN698-3424]
Nation cricket authorities have been asked by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to introduce a domestic anti-corruption code by April next year that is in line with the world body's regulations. The ICC wrote to all of its members last month requesting that they review their anti-corruption procedures and, where necessary, introduce new measures, a move that flowed directly from the spot-fixing scandal that surrounded the Pakistani team three months ago.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive says that the ICC had prepared a template domestic code which incorporates the essence of its existing Anti-Corruption Code for use in countries lacking their own set of rules, and for those who do to review theirs against it so that they can consider the adequacy of their own measures. ICC members are asked to review on-going education planning and delivery, reporting of integrity concerns in domestic cricket and the vetting of player agents. "All members have a responsibility to demonstrate leadership and good practice in protecting the integrity of the sport at domestic and international level", Lorgat says.