Umpiring is the most difficult job in the game of cricket. They have to officiate a game irrespective of whether it has a context or not, the weather conditions, and how the boring game is. Also, not to forget with technology and social media, they a lot of criticisms if a game gets impacted by their wrong decisions.
Recently, the umpires were under severe criticism during the recently concluded Indian T20 League 2022. There were a few games that were influenced by the wrong on-field decisions. There are several factors to this. Heavy crowds cheering sometimes don’t allow the on-field umpires to hear the sound of the ball hitting either edge of the bat.
For the unversed, there is a mic installed around the stumps from where the on-field umpires get the information on whether the ball hit the edge of the bat. Sometimes, due to heavy crowd noises, it becomes difficult for the umpires to detect something like this. This is why the Decision Review System has been introduced by the World Cricket Governing Council. As the access and use of DRS are limited, there is still a space for the umpires to make big and vital mistakes. There haveto been many instances where they have to change the decision after the referrals.
Meanwhile, in a club game in England, an on-field umpire decided to have fun with the players. With the scorecard read 12/5, the fielding team appealed for an LBW dismissal. In the normal course, the umpire would have either given out or not out. However, he instead decided to appeal with the players for the dismissal. In an interesting turn of events, the batter was given out within seconds after the incident.
Watch the video here
When your umpire is a player and just loves to be involved…. By appealing himself! ?? @crickshouts @Frogboxlive @wecricket_ pic.twitter.com/3LAdMDFCg1
— OdihamCricketClub (@OdihamCricket) June 5, 2022
The game was played between Odiham and Greywell Cricket Club vs the Overton Cricket Club. The Odiham Club batted first and were bowled for just 17 runs in 11.3 overs. Overton chased down the target in just 2.2 overs and lostto two wickets in the process.
