Umpiring in firing line at Durban

The umpiring in the first Test between Bangladesh and South Africa has been under scrutiny as eight decisions were overturned, and many umpire’s call decisions favoured hosts South Africa.

Two South African umpires, Marais Erasmus, the ICC Umpire of the Year of 2021, and Adrian Holdstock, are the on-field umpires for the Durban Test.

But their decision-making has been flawed so far, as they have already seen eight of their decisions overturned. There have been six dismissals based on the umpire’s decision, and four of them have come after reviewing.

Such scenes have led Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan to ask ICC to bring back neutral umpires.

“I think it’s time for ICC to (go) back to neutral umpires as the covid situation is ok in most cricket playing countries,” he wrote on Twitter.

His tweet came not only because of the overturned decisions, but probably also because of how the close, and even not-so-close, calls have gone against the Tigers.

In South Africa’s second innings, Bangladesh’s first two wickets were plumb LBW decisions. But in both cases, the umpires remained unmoved, and Mominul Haque had to opt for a review to overturn them.

Bangladesh have also been on the wrong side of ‘umpire’s call’ decisions throughout the Test. In the first innings, Temba Bavuma was not given out on an LBW appeal, and after a review the Protea batsman survived on umpire’s call. In the second innings, the same happened with South Africa skipper Dean Elgar. Facing Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Elgar was rapped on the pads, but the umpire did not budge. Upon review, he survived on umpire’s call.

Coach and advisor of BKSP, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, refused to call such poor decisions as bad umpiring.

“I don’t think it’s bad umpiring. They are all qualified, experienced umpires. I think ICC should look at how the umpires are performing. Unfortunately, the decision-making from the umpires is very one-sided,” he said.

The veteran coach added, “The umpire’s call is there to respect the decision of the umpires. If they want, the umpires can give that advantage or disadvantage to any team. And I feel that has been happening here. In the whole Test, one or two but all umpire’s call decisions have gone against Bangladesh.”