Umpires posted for international matches will not tolerate act of defiance from the players; that’s the unambiguous message from the on-field umpires, third and fourth umpire, who officiated the Australia-Pakistan ICC World Cup quarterfinal played at the Adelaide Oval.
The ICC Elite Panel Umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus (on-field), third umpire Richard Illingworth and fourth umpire Billy Bowden charged Shane Watson for violating the Spirit of the game rule and more importantly not following instructions to stop talking back to Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz. The ICC”s Umpire Performance and Training Manager, Simon Taufel has sent the details of the Riaz-Watson decision to all the ICC Elite and International Panel umpires. Wahab was fined 50 per cent of his match fee and Watson, 15 per cent.
“There are Player Codes in place and those have to be acted upon should there be a breach. Watson was told by the match umpires not to react to Riaz during that particular over. But at the end of the over he talked- back to Riaz. There has to be consistency in decisions taken by the umpires all over the world and hence Simon (Taufel) would have sent the report to all Elite, International Panel umpires and cricket Boards,” said a former umpire closely involved in training umpires.
Stump cameras’ role The same official also explained that there was a time the umpires and overseas players would not understand a word said by players of Asian teams. “That’s not the case now. The stump cameras pick up everything and there are people around to tell the ICC what exactly was said and its meaning.”
The ICC statement after the Australia-Pakistan match said: “Watson was found to have breached Article 2.1.8 (a) of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game” , while Wahab was charged under 2.1.4 of the Code, which relates to “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match” .
The statement also said that Watson ignored the umpires’ instructions and verbally engaged with Wahab, who, at the end of the over, followed through towards the batsman and used abusive language. “This is the gist of the punishment. You cannot disobey the Umpires instructions. The ICC wants to set an example,” said the official.
While the four Indian umpires in the ICC International Panel S. Ravi, Vineet Kulkarni, C. Shamshuddin and Anil Chaudhary would have received it directly from Taufel, a copy would have been sent to the BCCI’s umpire manager.
With the 2014-15 season nearing to a close, the BCCI will get an opportunity to use such reports at education programmes and seminars for domestic umpires before the start of the next season.
