10 of the Most Awful Decisions Made by Umpires in the Game of Cricket
With the introduction of DRS (Decision Review System), wrong decisions in cricket have gone down significantly! However, this was not the case earlier, almost every alternate match had at least one wrong/bad decision by the umpires!
Take a look at 10 of the most awful decisions by umpires!
1. England vs. Pakistan, 2nd Test, 2001
David Shepherd, one of the best umpires of his time, failed to recognize 3 No-Balls on which wickets fell, which led to Australia’s defeat. However, the Australian Cricket Team or Board held no grudges against him!
2. India vs. England, 4th Test, 1976-77
MV Nagendra, the umpire of that game, gave Mike Bearley OUT! When he was seemingly not out, later Nagendra admitted to Bearley that he had made a wrong decision!
3. West Indies vs. England, 4th Test, 1989-90
Umpire Lloyd Barker, initially gave Rob Bailey Not Out as the ball had just flicked his thigh-pad, however, Viv Richards, who was the first slip, came storming appeals over the umpire, and then Barker lifted his finger to signal out!
4. West Indies vs. Pakistan, 2nd Test, 1976-77
Umpire Douglas Sang Hue gave Roy Fredericks Not Out when he was clearly short of his ground while at 99!
5. India vs. West Indies, 5th Test, 1948-49
PS. Reactions from the Future to this tale!
India was chasing 361 to win in their 2nd innings to win the match. 21 runs were needed in 15 minutes, West Indies was wasting time in drinks and field changes, India needed just 11 in last 2 overs, when just after 5 balls in first over, Umpire Bapu Joshi, whipped off the bails, not just miscounting the no. of balls of the over, but also the time left for the day!
6. India vs. Australia, Sydney Test, 2007-08
Umpires Stever Buckner and Mark Benson give not one or two but a series of wrong decisions, surprisingly, all were in the favor of Australia, check the video for details!
7. Zimbabwe vs. Ireland, World Cup Match, 2019
Zimbabwe fell 5 runs short of making the highest successful run-chase, just because of Sean William’s wicket, that was wrongly given out by Third Umpire!
8. India vs. Australia, Gabba, 2003
Yet another umpiring disaster by the umpire Steve Bucknor. He gave Sachin Tendulkar Out off a wrong call, and everyone including the audience, the commentators as well as the cricketer himself, was disappointed!
9. Zimbabwe vs. West Indies, 2nd ODI, 2003
Umpire Peter Nero gave Ramnaresh Sarwan ‘Not Out’ when he himself knew that he was out, short to complete the run by as much as 8 inches, to everyone’s surprise, Nero didn’t even refer the decision to the third umpire!
10. India vs. England, ODI Series, 2007
Sachin Tendulkar was batting at 99 when he was given a catch-out by the umpire, even the ball was seemingly a No-Ball. Watch the video: