Should ICC introduce neutral umpires again in Test cricket?
Cricket hasn’t been the same ever since the COVID-19 virus came into the picture. Ban on the use of saliva, mandatory quarantine periods and restrictions on crowd gathering are some of the changes the gentleman’s game witnessed amid the introduction of the global pandemic. Among those is the use of home umpires for international matches.
Apparently, officials from overseas are required to go through rigorous isolation in order to officiate in matches. To avoid the same, ICC has been operating with umpires from the hosts’ nations in international matches. Notably, these umpires are either a part of ICC’s Elite Panel or belong to the ICC’s International Panel of umpires, which includes the four top umpires from each country.
BCB lodges complaint against umpires officiating in Durban Test
Although the DRS (Decision Review System) still exists to evaluate the umpire’s decision, several visiting teams have complained about the umpires being ‘biased’ towards the home team. Team Bangladesh is the latest to do so as the Mominul Haque-led side was taken aback by the howlers in the recently-concluded first Test against South Africa in Durban.
Stand-in umpires Thomas Holdstock and Marais Erasmus weren’t up to the mark as many close calls went against the Bangla Tigers. As the visitors lost the contest by 220 runs, team director Khaled Mahmud openly lashed out at the umpiring howlers as he believes more balanced decision-making would have brought out a different result.
Moreover, BCB has even lodged an official complaint, urging ICC to intervene in the matter. With the COVID situation normalizing, Mahmud even batted for the return of neutral umpires for international games. Now, the biggest question is whether there’s really a necessity to bring neutral umpires back for international fixtures. Although the howlers in the Durban Test can’t be ignored, any major decision on this matter should be taken considering all matches in the COVID era.
As far as numbers are the start of the year are concerned, 33% of all player reviews were upheld in the last 48 Tests featuring neutral umpires. Speaking of the home umpires, 27% of all player reviews were upheld. Hence, the overall figures suggest the local umpires have been decent with their job. Moreover, a team gets three reviews per Test innings and two reviews per innings in white-ball matches.
These reviews will only be dissolved when a side wastes them in wrong decisions. All umpires are also aware of the fact that they need to make precise decisions to thrive in their career. Hence, they have a very strong reason to remain unbiased.
It also must be noted that the home umpires are well versed with the local conditions and the same assists them in making decisions. While this debate is to stay here for a while, ICC can continue operating with home umpires at least till the howlers occur more often.
