Rain, No Play

Steve Bucknor has been removed as an umpire from a Test match because one of the teams complained about him. Bucknor made many mistakes and has been on the decline for some time, most notably with the fiasco at the World Cup final. But stop and think about it. India complains about an umpire in a Test match it is scheduled to play and the ICC bows to their request a day after saying that there would be no change in the umpires. What kind of precedent is that? So India can only have umpires that they favour in Test matches? Umpires have always made mistakes. The Windies had a tour to Australia a couple of years ago after which the ICC had to admit that the standard of umpiring slipped. The Windies didn't get a change of umpires for their matches. This is all about money and the ICC being afraid of the millions that the game would lose if India went ahead and abandoned the remainder of the tour. Utterly pathetic and not surprising given the blind greed that has characterised the ICC in recent times.  read more »

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Steve Bucknor may have umpired his last Test match. And if indeed Bucknor's umpiring career is over, then it was a horrible way for one of the more respected umpires over the last 15 years to go out. Bucknor's reputation as an elite umpire has been steadily eroding as age caught up to him, but some of his decisions in last week's India-Australia Test shown in the video above were absolutely shocking. Malcolm Speed, head of the ICC has said that Bucknor would not be removed from future consideration from Test matches, but it is entirely possible that Bucknor would have umpired his last Test. That Bucknor has been removed is further evidence of the weakness of the ICC as it bowed to the wealthy Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the Indians had threatened to withdraw from the remainder of the tour.

The ICC has suspended the 5 match officials who officiated in the April 28 World Cup final that ended as a farce. These five officials, namely West Indian Steve Bucknor, Aleem Dar; the reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, and the match referee, Jeff Crowe, have all been suspended for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup final in September.

Their actions led to the most farcical finish ever witnessed at a World Cup final. With Sri Lanka needing 63 runs from the final 18 deliveries of the match and with the light fading badly, these 5 officials concluded incorrectly that the Sri Lankans needed to come back the next day to finish the match. Now, this was when all of 33 overs had already been bowled (20 are enough to constitute a match) and the Sri Lankan captain had already conceded defeat. The correct decision by the officials would have been to declare the match finished, and award the championship to Australia. Instead, after discussion, the officials then allowed the Sri Lankans to face the supposedly remaining 3 overs against Australia's spinners in near pitch black conditions. The incredulous Kensington Oval crowd rightly booed the farce that unfolded before them.  read more »