World Cup 2019: Brathwaite expresses frustration after umpiring howlers unsettled the West Indian camp
What’s the story?
In the World Cup fixture between Australia and West Indies, the umpiring decisions once again caught everybody’s attention for a spree of poor decisions. After the match, West Indian all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite expressed his frustration over the dodgy calls that somewhat unsettled the West Indian camp.
In case you didn’t know…
The on-field umpires Chris Gaffney and Ruchira Palliyaguruge were in the firing lane for committing errors on more than one occasion through the course of the match. It was twice that Chris Gayle was wrongly adjudged out and even skipper Jason Holder survived an lbw shout, thanks to the DRS technology.
The heart of the matter…
In West Indies’ 15-run defeat against Australia at Trent Bridge, the substandard umpiring stole unnecessary limelight after five DRS calls went against the Caribbean team.
In his post-match chat with the media, Carlos Brathwaite didn’t mince his words to mention about few umpiring howlers that proved too costly for his side.
“I don't know if I'll be fined for saying it, but I just think that the umpiring was a bit frustrating," he said.
The all-rounder also alluded to the fact that three poor calls in one over did unsettle the dressing room. “Obviously three decisions in one over as far as I can remember being dodgy, it was frustrating and sent ripples through the dressing room.”
Even during the game, Former West Indian great Michael Holding wasn’t reluctant to put his view forth regarding the poor standards of umpiring.
“I'm sorry, but the umpiring in this game has been atrocious,” Holding said while commentating during the official broadcast.
He went on to add that umpires are not confident of their decisions and get intimidated by successive appealing. “They are being intimidated. That means they are weak. This has been an atrocious bit of umpiring by both (umpires)."
What’s next?
This is not the first time that poor umpiring has been brought to ICC’s notice. It all now rests on how the apex body considers getting rid off these errors to ensure that it doesn’t cost any team an important game.