Australia benefit from umpiring
bias, says book
The West Indies will concede 30 runs to Australia in each of their five cricket Tests this summer because of biased umpiring, according to a new book.
In 'The Best Of The Best,' Australian writer Charles Davis uses statistical evidence to compare cricket and cricketers across the various eras of the sport.
One of the most damning pieces of evidence -- the subject of a chapter in its own right -- is that covering home team bias during the 1990s.
"The figures suggest that visiting teams in Australia were disadvantaged to the tune of about 30 runs per match by biased lbw decisions during the 1990s," Davis wrote.
The statistic "should provide food for thought for Australian authorities," he added.
Davis argued that lbw decisions, as the only true subjective rulings made during the 1990s, were a strong indicator of bias. He defined home bias as the difference between lbw decisions for or against a team at home and lbw decisions for or against a team away from home.
With the exception of England and South Africa, which received about as many lbw decisions for and against at either home or away, he found there was a strong bias towards the home team across the other Test nations.
Zimbabwe had the worst home bias, at eight per cent, but Davis suggested Zimbabwe had not played enough Tests to draw firm conclusions.
Pakistan was second-worst at 7.4 per cent, followed by Australia at 5.1 per cent, Sri Lanka (5 percent) and India (4.4).
And it was not that umpires gave players out when they were not out, but that home players possibly got more of the benefit of the doubt when batting.
Davis concluded: "In four of the nine Test-playing nations, umpires are less likely to give local batsmen out lbw than visiting batsmen."
As a team during the 1990s, Australia lost 10.3 per cent of their wickets to lbw decisions at home, but the opposition's lbws were 16.2 per cent of the wickets taken by Australian bowlers.
When overseas, lbw decisions rose to 16.6 per cent of Australian dismissals and the bowlers were able to gain 17.4 per cent of their wickets with leg-before decisions.
Across all countries, lbws account for about 16-17 per cent of all dismissals in the 1990s.
Davis suggested factors such as pressure of the home crowd or a subconscious tendency to favour winning teams could prompt even the best neutral, international umpires to favour the Australians in Australia, or Pakistan in Pakistan.
Mail Cricket Editor
