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| Wednesday, 24 December 2003 |
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Poor umpiring by Daryl Harper Never before in my four decades of watching cricket have I seen bad umpiring as displayed by Daryl Harper in the Galle and Kandy Tests. The First Test at Galle would not have been a draw if our captain Hashan Tillekeratne had been more tactful and handled the bowling well in the last stages of the Test. Constant faith on Kumar Dharmasena was his undoing. He should have tried our pacemen Vaas and Fernando in short spells. The more Dharmasena bowled, the more confident were the tail-end batsmen and the more practice they got. Our captain forgot that he had to fight against time. Our two veteran bowlers Muralitharan and Jayasuriya are not free from blame. They forgot the fact that tail end batsmen could be easily tempted to lift the ball off loose deliveries. The tall fast bowler Richard Johnson was well trapped by Murali at Galle to be caught by Atapattu with a safe pair of hands in the deep. But this was soon forgotten. Jayasuriya could well remember that in the past he was called by his captain to bowl at tail end batsmen. More often than not, he got them caught in the deep. The more our spinners bowled the more the English tail end batsmen refused to play strokes and went on the defence. This saved their side from defeat. In the Kandy Test, Hashan Tillekeratne shone as pace maker and calmed down Harper. Watching the Tests on TV, I without doubt concluded that Harper still harboured prejudice and may be ill will, against our star bowler, Muralitheran. He was determined not to give out LBW to Murali's spinners. Had he called on the third umpire for a decision, the story would have been different. Our young boys headed by Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps raised frequent appeals and most of them though refused by Harper were correct. Not befitting a test umpire, Harper saved England in the two Tests. Why didn't he call on the third umpire, knowing well that our spinners were on top, is my question. Thanks to the TV replays and the interesting commentaries of well known test players, Harper's stubbornness and prejudice against us, was well commented. Thanks to Sanjay Manjrekar, a test player for his brave and bold comments. I thank Sa'adi Thawfeeq, my wisden colleague for his correct and truthful comments on Harper. Though short, they strike the nail on the head. I propose to Clive Lloyd, the match referee that Daryl Harper be fined one third of his fees for his revengeful and unsportsmanlike conduct as a Test Umpire. We expected fair play from him. Gerry Vaidyasekera, Potuhera. |
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