A nasty lbw decision, says Richards

Umpire Dotiwala seems to be adamant on the decision that he gave three decades ago in a India vs West Indies Test, in 1983, against the legendary batsman Vivian Richards. The Umpire’s reaction is his defence against Richards’ remarks of calling his decision “a nasty lbw decision”

Thirty years later, when Richards recalled his suspicious dismissal, he said,

“Yes, I remember that one. It was a nasty LBW decision. Those days we didn’t have neutral umpires.” Richards says that, the bowler of the particular wicket, Kapil Dev, wasn’t really in favour of the decision though the decision ultimately favoured his team.”

In the book, Sir Vivian – The Definitive Autobiography, Richards claims to have received a call from an unknown person warning him against the umpire.

He said,

“Someone called me up the night before in the hotel. Some anonymous call came in saying ‘Mr Richards? You don’t know me but if I were you tomorrow I’d be careful of the umpire.”

“That was scary. Those days you never heard of match-fixing and all that stuff. So someone called me that night and funnily the next day.”

Richards goes on to say that the unknown caller had warned him about the umpire being “bought”.

After his dismissal, he had shattered and smashed the dressing room, clearly signifying his dissatisfaction about the “nasty” decision.

Only if match fixing was prevalent in the early 80s would Richards arguments be widely accepted. It was only in the 1990s, specifically after the case of former South African captain Hansie Cronje, that match-fixing allegations had commenced.

Dotiwala, defending himself against the allegation, said that Richards had brought up that call because he wanted to eschew the disturbance created by him in the dressing room.

Dotiwala says,

“Those days, there were no match referees. Else, Richards would have been fined and even dropped from the next Test. He was clearly out. No player is happy with a leg before decision. In my opinion, he was plumb. He used to play across the line. I felt it would have hit the stumps – somewhere in between middle and leg or at the most, leg stump”

Dotiwala recollects, “During the tea interval (Day Three, November 1), Richards told us, ‘you Indian umpires are @#####@ cheats.’ We complained to our Board president NKP Salve at the end of the day. Manager Wes Hall and Captain Clive Lloyd were informed about the need to apologise for whatever was said to us and we decided not to come out on the field the next day. But Lloyd promised us an apology so we started play.”

Richards, later, while he walked with his team for lunch, had apologised to the umpires for whatever he had said against them earlier.

When asked about match-fixing, Dotiwala said, “Nothing doing, nothing doing. I had never heard of match fixing when I was umpiring. It all started with the Hansie Cronje incident”

Dotiwala also said that Richards was seemingly “happy” with him when he umpired the West Indies’ games in 1987.

Gothoskar, the other umpire who was assisting Dotiwala in the same match said, “I must say that the West Indians were aggressive at that moment and would soon be back to their normal jovial selves. I used to enjoy the banter Malcolm Marshall used to indulge in. Lloyd too used to joke around with me”.