Posts
Loading ...Mike Proctor probably being a man who wishes he hadn’t got up this morning.
Mike Proctor’s hard call
By Scott 2 years ago, mid-August Leave a comment on this post
Mike Proctor has to make a decision to over-rule his umpires so that the match is not forfeit.
There is a huge amount of discussions going on, but basically, it is a simple call, and it is up to Mike Proctor, as the match referee, to call it.
Tags: england, farce, ICC, match-referee, Mike-Proctor, pakistan, pakistan-in-england |
27 Responses to “Mike Proctor’s hard call”
August 20th, 2006 at 6.27 pm
August 20th, 2006 at 6.30 pm
I wonder if this is the first recorded incident of a match referee doing anything about anything other than foul language and dissent.
August 20th, 2006 at 6.32 pm
If Mike Proctor does overrule the umpires, then their careers are over, I reckon.
However, they’ll probably get a book out of it.
August 20th, 2006 at 6.36 pm
Very difficult for him to do that given that the umpires don’t seem to have broken the letter of the law - they, or rather he, have just acted very unreasonably within it - and against the spirit of the game.
August 20th, 2006 at 6.39 pm
darrel hair is a complete idiot..
and it is about time he is FIRED.. he is NOT god..
this was not an issue of a bad decision of which he has made plenty. You CANNOT make such a serious accusation without proof. There was nothing else that pak could have done than that protest. I am amazed that the ecb chairman was able to convince them to resume in favor of relations and the crowd. You can’t just standby and accept the cheating accusation from darrel hair. If you do, what will stop another umpire to make a similar decision with 3 runs needed to win and the ball hit to the boundary and the umpire says that the player did it and not the boundary board. Hair LOVES this stuff… if it had been any other umpire I am sure pak would have accepted it with some proof but with hair who has a loooong history of this crap… arghhh…
August 20th, 2006 at 6.46 pm
I don’t think we can solely attack Hair in this - Doctrove is right alongside him in the issue.
I dont think Proctor can over-rule: the umpires have acted in line with the law. They have done it quite insensitively, but they havent done anything wrong.
August 20th, 2006 at 6.51 pm
What’s interesting is that Hair has actually been somewhat more withdrawn than he normally is in the rest of this test match. When England were bowling, Panesar had real trouble getting lbw decisions of the type I remember Hair giving when watching Giles bowling against the West Indies two years ago.
But Ollie’s right - there are two umpires here, and we cannot be sure that the highlighting of Hair isn’t commentator made.
Something of note is that cricinfo has stated that their sources indicate that no individual has been accused. Curiouser and curiouser.
August 20th, 2006 at 6.55 pm
exactly… hair has acted against the spirit of the game and he should be penalized… Umpires are not gods… this was not a case of bad decision during play.. nobody can blame an umpire for that.. hair has been consistently giving pak horrendous decisions but they never left the field to protest. England on the other hand HAS left the field over what they thought were bad decisions in the 80s in pak. In this case hair did not have to make a split second decision. He needed to give proof to say that pak are cheaters. If he just had a “suspicion” without any proof what so ever, he could have replaced the ball by saying it has gone out of shape and picked another himself. HOWEVER, he chose to give a firm verdict that pakistan HAS cheated and that he will give them a 5 run penalty and adding insult to injury let the england players pick a 100 over old orange. UNBELIEVABLE.. is it no wonder that it was hair who acted like he is GOD… he is certainly not and needs to be fired over this to make an example that umpires are accountable. I have always support the authority of umpires but in this case the umpire is at fault. MOREOVER, pak had been so badly damaged by this accusation but they still listened to the ecb and pak board and realized that for the sake of relations the match must go on and decided to make a brief protest. NOW, ecb is ready to play, pak is ready to play and the UMPIRE is throwing a hissy fit. Umpires I thought were supposed to be above this. Hair is just showing what a hard headed meglomaniac man he is. His word is gospel and he needs no proof or evidence to basically label pakistan as cheaters as a team.
If there had been any evidence and pak had not come to the field, I would have fully supported Hair. For you england supporters this might seem like pak is to blame but if you guys were in this situation you would have not only not played but under no circumstances come back or listened to anybody else. However, the pansies in the pak board convinced the players to look at the overall picture and make an attempt to resume the game. This current match can go to hell, the cheating accusation for the WHOLE team is much much bigger than this test, series or whatever else.. if pak accepts this now.. they will always be labelled as cheaters and any umpire can go ahead and penalize them at any suspicion what so ever.. the sky team has 26 TWENTY SIX cameras which did not pick up anything at all. The kind of proof that is needed to make this accusation would be a super zoom on the ball itself clearly showing the player lifting the seam or digging his fingers in to the ball… and would have been picked up more likely by the 4th umpire on the cameras… how can the umpire see a bowler lifting the seam as the bowler is walking back wether or not the bowler is actually lifting the seam.. more over the little scruff spot hair was pointing at was insignificant in any case.. it wasn’t like the seam was completely lifted or a major chunk was missing.. you can’t do any serious damage to a cricket ball unless you are clearly seen as digging into the ball or scratching it..arghhhh… i am foaming at the mouth really.. so pissed off about all this… i really feel sorry for the crowd.. but the pak team just absolutely had to protest.. continuing to play would have been tantamount to accepting the accusation..
inzi is such a moron that he had to be told what to do… which is why he did not walk away straight away.. he must have also asked his players to take an oath that they were not responsible/i.e. playing with the ball.. to make sure that they are innocent before he protested…
August 20th, 2006 at 6.59 pm
Mani, I agree with you that Hair is an idiot. I also think that his behaviour in accusing
But you’re wrong that Pakistan had to behave as they did. They should have made a formal complaint to the referee - there are official ways of doing that, they would have had a lot of popular support, and they probably would have had their complaint upheld, and been totally vindicated.
But striking in their dressing room achieved nothing at all, and - once that point had been reached - the umpires’ decision to declare the game forfeit was not actually that unreasonable. If one team is refusing to play, what else can they do?
August 20th, 2006 at 7.01 pm
Sorry, the first paragraph should have read “in accusing Pakistan of cheating.”
August 20th, 2006 at 7.05 pm
Let’s try again.
“Mani, I agree with you that Hair is an idiot. I also think that his behaviour in accusing Pakistan of cheating was totally appalling.
But…”
August 20th, 2006 at 7.09 pm
I’ve just got back from The Oval. The lack of information given to spectators was astonishing and scandalous. Yes, quite a few people knew what was going on because of the handy little radios you can buy now - and through mobile phone calls to those in front of the television, but that’s beside the point.\
From 4 o’clock, to after 6 pm, there were precisely NO official announcements to tell us what was happening.
One by-product of this was that the Pakistanis were roundly booed when they came on the field - bet Darrell Hair got a good laugh out of that - plus the ECB fossills who still run the game in this country.
August 20th, 2006 at 7.10 pm
Exactly! There are ways and means of protesting, and this was not one of them, because no-one knew (outside of the Pakistani dressing room) what the extent of the protest was. If the umpires had no idea that the Pakistani protest was supposed to be a short-term thing, then they were entirely within their rights to call the game forfeit.
I don’t think anyone will come out of this with their reputation untainted, which is a shame because I was thoroughly enjoying today’s play.
August 20th, 2006 at 7.11 pm
Oops, cross-posted with Reverse. That was a response to Larry.
August 20th, 2006 at 7.19 pm
teabag.. in a prefect world you are right.. BUT ask yourself this.. by staying on the pitch you are saying…umpire we accept that we are cheaters lets go on now.. pak had to bring attention to this matter and the ONLY way to do this was to protest in this manner.. just a report would not have done it.. YES.. if it had been an issue of hair penalizing for walking on the pitch or bad decisions file a report.. BUT this is soooo serious larry.. don’t you understand that? IF it had been england i have no doubt they would not have come out but also that they would have not come back under any circumstance.. England walked out in 80s for “bad” umpiring decisions which are much less serious than this cheating accusation.. Umpires can and will award this match to england for which i could care less as a pak fan.. this cheating allegation will haunt pakistan forever if hair the idiot is not penalized.. he can’t damage the image of the team forever without proof.. if he had proof or he could point out xyz player then certainly.. i would have fully backed darrell hair.. i am just saying that these players are human beings.. they have been absolutely shot through the heart by darrel hair.. if i was a player i would be in no mood to play under darrel hair.. i would have said = match referee show me where i have cheating.. tell me who cheated.. and i am ready to play.. if not then change the umpire right there and then.. UMPIRES have always been considered the final word with which i whole heartedly agree.. lbws.. catches etc.. are split second decisions that you just can’t blame umpires for.. hair was done this so consistently against pak to make it highly suspicious.. not just pak but other south asians too! even as a pak fan i was suprised by the repeated appeals turned down to monty.. and he never gives anything to kaneria.. ALL of this is fine by me.. BUT this is such a completely different thing.. and i hope you see that.. hair in the pak vs england series in pak penalized salman butt with 5 run penalty for walking on the pitch.. and clearly it could be seen that the took half a step in the danger area and none at all on the first warning.. even the commentators agreed that this was uncalled for..the england batsmen and other pak batsmen were taking 1.5 steps in the danger area and were not penalized.. i was very pissed at hair but i said..ok that is his judgement.. it doesn’t mean that pak were cheating.. just that he thought butt was walking on the danger area and he penalized them.. HOWEVER, this is soooo serious.. this is clearly saying pakistan team are cheaters.. you can’t accept that because it will carry over to other matches and other umpires will be quick to judge. IF hair gets away with this nonsense what will stop another umpire in another match doing the same thing without pointing out who was the culprit or providing any proof???? filing complaints against hair has done nothing in the past… so what can pak do???? other than make the strongest protest possible which is what they did??? who would have taken any notice without a very serious protest to match the seriousness of the accusation made..? we can’t keep taking it on the chin from hair for eternity… i can assure u that pak wouldn’t have taken such a step if simon taufel had done this.. but that is a moot point because taufel would never take such a step without concrete evidence… IF pak did do tampering and by some miracle only hair saw something that 26 cameras didn’t..then pak deserve more punishmen than just 5 runs penalty..
August 20th, 2006 at 7.29 pm
Jess says “Exactly! There are ways and means of protesting, and this was not one of them”…
Jess there was NO other way.. this is not the first time.. hair has been up to this for soo long and pak has not even filed complaints against him every time.. BUT this wasn’t just some bad decisions etc.. this was wayyyy more serious than that.. would we be talking about this?? nobody would have taken notice..and hair would get away with murder.. atleast people are talking about it now.. this is something that will stay with pak for sooo long now… accepting hair’s decision and going on like nothing happened IS an acceptance of guilt!! if you can’t understand that jess.. i am really sorry because you need to look at this from a pak fan’s perspective.. i would never ever support what pak has done if it had been anything else.. even if the umpire disallowed a clean bowled as not out would not be grounds for not coming on to play.. BUT a serious.. unsubstantiated.. action by hair could only have resulted in this response.. EVEN beefy said he would have done the same thing… If i was pak captain.. i would have said that straight away.. i would have asked my players to take an oath on the field.. and if everybody said they didn’t do anything.. i would have told the umpire on the field straight away = tell me who did it.. do you have proof.. did you see it.. if the umpire couldn’t give me proof.. i would tell him that i am walking off… as simple as that… I assure you england would have done the same thing..england have walked off for far less than this..
what i am amazed at is that pak agreed to come back on the ground by the persuasion of ecb! i would not have accepted it till HAIR was ready to give me proof OR take back his horrendous call.. HAIR is god and he cannot accept that he can make a mistake.. he should have been man enough to back up his claim or accept that he made an error in a moment of madness.. as simple as that.. inzi is mindless idiot.. thank god finally he decided to protest.. if it had been up to him.. he would have kept playing like nothing happened..
August 20th, 2006 at 8.06 pm
Of course there’s another way. What does sitting in the dressing room for what was apparently planned to be a short period of time achieve? Personally, I find it highly unlikely that it was supposed to be short term - or would they not at least sent a 12th man to the field or to the match referee to say ‘give us a minute, Kamran’s trying to find his gloves underneath the newspaper he’s just decided to flick through’. Their decision, to me, was to disrupt the entire day, and only later diplomacy convinced Inzy otherwise.
Five’s highlights just ended with the irony of their jingle ‘All the world has come to watch you shine’ being filtered over pictures of Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood standing, kitted up, on their balcony waiting to bat in a game that could only be won by a team that wouldn’t play. I sympathise with the Pakistanis. I, too, would be very upset to be accused of tampering if, in fact, I hadn’t been responsible. But surely the best action would be to play on, win the game in spite of the decision, and then prove their case in whatever tribunal follows. This has only damaged the name of cricket and Pakistani cricket, not merely that of Daryl Hair.
August 20th, 2006 at 8.51 pm
Emma easy for you to say.. England in 80s has walked off for much less.. this is not the first time Hair has done this.. what point is there to play under Hair?? he has absolutely proven that he is completely incompetent and foaming at the mouth for controversy.. if pakistan had played.. that would mean they agree with the decision.. what stops an umpire in the next match doing exactly the same thing? England should be given this match.. i could care less.. forget about what pakistan did..right or wrong.. if icc decides they did the wrong thing go ahead and give england this match.. i could care less.. all i care about is that hair needs to be fired and off the panel for this..
he acts like god.. if players can be penalized and called cheaters.. then umpires need to be accontable too.. hair did this without any evidence which resulted in this fiasco.. without this protest from pakistan… ppl would have gone on with the game.. and pak would have been penalized AGAIN in the next game without any proof.. what if england needed 5 runs to win.. with 1 wicket left.. and hair decided to award the game??? You need to look at the history of hair vs pakistan.. this wasn’t out of the blue.. if any other umpire had been there.. pak could have swallowed this bitter pill.. NOT with hair.. there has to be a limit to what you can take..
if pak had just gone on.. NOTHING would have been done against hair because by going on… pak would have agreed with hair’s decision..
August 20th, 2006 at 9.09 pm
You are Right mani, hair is an idiot acting like police i just dont like him, now i hate him.
August 20th, 2006 at 9.15 pm
Mani, look I agree with you that Hair is the real villain of the piece. Whatever the Pakistan team did was undoubtedly in the face of huge provocation.
One other thing - don’t get the impression that many England fans are enjoying this farce at all. The Pakistan team got booed today because the crowd had literally no idea what was going on - all they knew is that Pakistan wouldn’t come out to play.
If England “win” this game because of this, it’ll be one hell of a hollow victory. This is a terrible day for the whole of cricket. But the rest of the series has been played in an excellent spirit - we shouldn’t let one fat, useless umpire undermine that.
August 20th, 2006 at 9.23 pm
Hair has done it against other asian nations and got away with it. He has to be stopped as his behaviour is against the spirit of the game.
Cheers
August 20th, 2006 at 9.37 pm
larry.. i have no complaints against england.. and i have always tolerated hair’s atrocious decisions… giving him the benefit of doubt.. BUT.. he has penalized pak batsmen for walking on the pitch in the LAST innings of a match!! even when they weren’t walking on the pitch.. 5 runs penalty.. and kaneria for walking on the pitch.. was he? he was marginally.. half a foot.. kaneria changed ends to taufel and he had no problems at all with his follow through.. this is apart from countless clear massive edged not given.. ALL of this i totally accept… not happy about all the history.. but i accept it.. BUT this is a totally different story.. i never thought i could have ever agreed with something as unsporting as not playing.. but in this case i amazed myself by agreeing with it.. because playing like nothing happened would set a precident that it is ok for hair to humiliate us without evidence on whim with no evidence.. there can be no bigger humiliation than what hair did to pak.. i am not saying that england supporters are happy with it.. did pak do the right thing.. NO they didn’t.. but this was the one time where there was no other choice in my “opinion”… i am not sure if the england supporters can appreciate the tough spot pak was in to make this decision… i would have stuck with the decision all the way.. but pak decided to look like idiots and be upstaged once again by hair by walking out there looking like idiots standing there.. and hair showing once again who is god by deciding not to walk in WHEN the ecb board persuaded pakistan to continue! if both countries were ready to make a game of it even after this fiasco.. why did GOD not want to come out and get on with it? Pak is being blamed for throwing a tantrum against the spirit of the game.. then couldn’t hair have been the bigger man and gotten on with it and filed a complaint latter? pak were forced in to a position that had to be taken.. right? no not right but there was no other way.. just filing a complaint later is admitting guilt.. playing on under hair would be a farce… by the way.. thanks for being understanding larry… there is of course no fault of england in this.. and i agree that coming back to play now would be against england.. england won the series fair and square.. even with the bad decisions from hair where he didn’t give clear nicks out.. that stuff doesn’t bother me.. BUT this incident is way bigger than one test or series.. that is what i’m trying to get across.. i don’t usually get involved in online discussions etc.. I’m just sooo upset that the only way to vent my frustration is write it out here on this blog.. why is it always hair? Listen to Dickie Bird’s interview on BBC.. he clearly sides with pakistan by saying that this is a very SERIOUS accusation and tha the umpires had no right to accuse pak of ball tampering without concrete evidence.. dickie bird called atherton for ball tampering but only after he was made aware of clear video evidence by the fourth umpire.. not some hunch or bias… if ex-umpire is saying that what hair did is wrong… u can well imagine the frustration of pak fans.. which goes way beyond winning or losing this match…
August 20th, 2006 at 9.41 pm
Absolutoly right Larry, the rest of the series should be played with high spirits and friendship.
August 20th, 2006 at 11.16 pm
Mani its just a game!!!!Take it easy.There are lot more serious provocations and blames we pakis have to purge ourselves of;seriously
Hair for sure is a raciast
August 20th, 2006 at 11.35 pm
Can I just say, as a white, middle class, England supporter I am SO TOTALLY on Inzamam’s side in this mess. Mani may be overreacting, but only slightly! My blood is boiling.
Is Hair a racist? I’m reluctant to think that of any umpire, but he has certainly behaved appallingly with Pakistan all series. His sniping at Murali also irritates.
I love to see England play Pakistan as there is always so much passion and excitement, but this is a real kick in the teeth for this summer’s cricket. I hope the one days will go ahead (even though I am fully expecting another 5 - 0 drubbing). Hair can’t stand in a Pakistan match again. It’s that simple. He should probably be sacked from the panel.
August 20th, 2006 at 11.57 pm
thanks for understanding helen…
i was just trying to vent my frustration..
my frustration with hair has been building over the years.. but i always gave him the benefit of doubt especially over things like clear nicks being missed.. oh well.. these things happen… but when he started giving penalties to pak batsmen for walking on the pitch in the last innings.. i mean come on.. when they were not.. even beefy agreed that they were not.. this happened last year.. then he kept warning kaneria for walking on the danger area.. kaneria switched to taufel’s end and taufel had no problems.. still i said ok.. nevermind.. that is just how hair interprets things.. BUT today everything just boiled over and made it supremely clear that Hair wether racist or not assumed that pakistan is guilty until proven otherwise.. pak gets movement.. must be cheating.. i don’t need to see somebody actually do it.. WITHOUT proof there was a simple solution.. just change the ball and pick one yourself.. BUT the height of humiliation was accusing pak of cheating and then the embarrassment of awarding 5 runs.. and the even more embarrassing result of the law which allows england batsmen to pick an orange that’s 100 overs old..
all this would have been justified IF the 4th umpire/referee saw somebody fingering the ball on camera and alerted hair.. then absolutely give pak all the punishment.. for sure.. but to declare paks as cheaters… sigh.. nevermind.. why do i even bother…. :((
August 21st, 2006 at 1.03 pm
Mani bhai,you’re getting a bit emotional and I fully sympathize with you. Whatever you have said is correct.
For those who are saying that there are other ways,please list them here.
This is NOT the first time that Pakistan has suffered as a result of that fat idiot’s prejudice-as Mani says. And I assure you that Pakistan has protested before. Look through the Cricinfo archives if you like, the PCB has registered official complaints with the ICC before as well. You cannot protest against injustice like this indefinitely. There is a limit - as we Pakistanis say, ‘hadd hoti hai’. Pakistan has protested within the official and legal limits before, and it hasn’t helped at all. In fact,Pakistan cricket has had to suffer in this incident for being too decent.
Official complaint to the ICC, complaint to match referee,and I am certain that the captain’s report (on the umpires,submitted to the match referee) has also mentioned and protested against Hair.
what more do you want?
accusing pakistan of cheating was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
note what i say-accusing PAKISTAN of cheating. inzamam and the rest of the team represent Pakistan and if they are accused of cheating,their nation’s honor is what is at stake.
what if australia had accused england of ball-tampering last year because of the reverse swing? what if aleem dar had changed the ball at edgbaston because he thought it was too roughed up and given the australians their choice of ball to replace? and then penalized england for ball-tampering- and so saying that england had cheated?
how would the england public have reacted to that?
goddamn it,the ball’s 50 overs old,it WILL be messed up, it WILL reverse.
ball tampering.
hmph!
Comments
« It’s all happening at The Oval | Main | ‘The biggest crisis since the Packer era’ »
