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Neutral umpires in name, or fact?
Anant Gaundalkar
Sometimes, when you blindly trawl through your statistics database, you find interesting little sidelights that can open your eyes rather startlingly. And the question of appointment of neutral match referees is one such.
The idea of deploying the services of match referees
in the Test arena started when India toured Down Under during the 1991-92
season and that of the third-country umpire was inaugurated in the subsequent
season, when India had gone to Zimbabwe. Although the appointment
of the third-country umpire was halted for a while in-between, the referees
were regular for each Test match.
From that point, till the conclusion of the last Test series
between Pakistan and Sri Lanka last month, there have been 187
Tests in which referees did duty and 133 games in which
third country umpires were pressed into service. Details of which country supplied the bulk of the match referees and third country umpires is interesting.
The adjacent exclusive table gives complete details
of this break-up. And at the outset, it must be admitted that
representations from the sub-continent in both these categories
is very thin indeed. There are only 25 Tests in which referees
from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka did duty, which yields a low
ratio of 13.36 per cent while that figure, in the case of umpires, is 30
Test matches - a quotient of 22.55%. At the same time, referees from the West Indies and New Zealand appear to be hugely favoured. And that, at one level, makes you think...
Following is the table...
| About match referees
| About third country umpire
|
| Country | Total
| Total Tests | Highest Test
| Total | Total Tests
| Highest Test |
| West Indies | 5 | 39
| C.Lloyd (13) | 2 |
17 | S. Bucknor (15) |
| England | 5 | 38
| R Subba Row (20) | 6
| 37 | H.D. Bird (12) |
| New Zealand | 3 | 35
| J Reid (29) | 3 |
13 | B.Aldridge & S.Dudm(6) |
| Australia | 3 | 29
| P.J.P Barge (19) | 2
| 14 | D.B. Hair (8) |
| South Africa | 2 | 21
| P.L.vander Morwe (19) | 4
| 13 | C.J. Mitchley (7) |
| Pakistan | 5 | 11
| Majid Khan (4) | 2
| 7 | Mehboob Shah (4) |
| India | 4 | 10
| S.Venkatraghavan (5) | 2
| 13 | S. Venkataraghavan (10)
|
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 4
| R S Madugalle (4) | 2
| 10 | K.T. Francis & B C Conry (5)
|
| Zimbabwe | -- | --
| -- | 2 | 9
| I.D. Robinsen (8) |
| Total: | 28 |
187 | J.Reid (29)--NZ
| 25 | 133 | S.Buckner (15)-WI
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NOTES:
- Figures in brackets indicates number of matches in which
that particular referee/umpire officiated.
- Although referees have been appointed in each and every Test
since its inception, there is a in-between break in case of umpires.
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