Two late West Indian wickets, including that of Ramnaresh Sarwan to a dreadful decision under the umpiring referral system, leaves the test wide open.The tourists refused to kick up a fuss about the leg-before decision that saw television umpire Mark Benson overrule Rudi Koetzen despite doubt on two counts, namely the legality of Daniel Vettori's front foot and also the path of the delivery.
Wrong! The side-on replay clearly showed that at least an inch of Vettori's heel was behind the back-edge of the popping crease, which is the marker for a front-foot no ball. Yes, the heel was raised, but that is allowed by the no-ball law, which requires part of the foot to be behind the popping crease WHETHER GROUNDED OR RAISED.
By all means umpires can be criticised for errors of fact - and the LBW dismissal of Kyle Mills was an example of a bad decision - but if you are going to criticise on a point of law, it helps to know the law!
4 comments:
Woo-hoo; you know your stuff Inv…
Tortured Genius Martin Crowe made the same mistake on the telly too; which is unlike him.
I've done my share of time in the middle LB - I umpired to a reasonably high level for about eight seasons. Yes, it was good to see Crowe exposed like that - not a mistake you would expect from a former international captain, and one which Simon Doull was only too happy to correct.
I don't know why Millmow didn't mention the Mills decision - that was a shocker, and I reckon that the Hawkeye technology let them down. I believe that there were two impacts - front and back pad - the first impact is the one that counts, and that was in front of leg stump - you could actually see middle and off behind Mills. The second impact was the middle and leg one, and that's the one they came back to when they took the batsman out of the picture. Rudi Koertzen got that one right onfield.
The thing about the Mills dismissal was that Hawkeye ignored the fact it was swinging. Are they not allowed to use common sense as well?
Re the foot in the air rule: if that rule did not apply Vettori would be bowling 100 no balls a day.
No, from hearing interviews with Doug Cowie last week, it seems as though common sense, otherwise known as the benefit of the doubt will be eliminated.
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