Storm erupts over Mark Waugh and Brad Haddin’s umpiring theory

The umpiring in the Third Test has raised all sorts of questions and Aussie cricket greats have now caused a stir with explosive claims.

With the quality of the umpiring coming under fire throughout the first two days of the Indore Test, fans and experts are looking everywhere for answers.

The Third Test saw some absolute howlers from umpires Nitin Menon and Joel Wilson, which saw fans of both sides fuming.

The opening over of the Test saw Mitchell Starc catch Rohit Sharma’s edge with his first ball, but with umpire Menon’s finger staying by his side, the Australians opted not to burn a review early and were proven wrong, with UltraEdge confirming an edge.

Watch Australia’s Tour of India. Every Test & ODI live & ad-break free during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

It was to be just the beginning for the Australians, with a litany of questionable decisions seeing Steve Smith’s reviews become more impatient and combative with every mistake.

The final straw for Australian fans was Cameron Green’s dismissal, given leg before to Umesh Yadav despite apparently sliding a long way down leg.

Green immediately reviewed, and replays showed the ball all but missing the stumps and being given umpire’s call by an incredibly small margin, bringing into question the quality of the on-field decision making.

Test greats Mark Waugh and Brad Haddin theorised that Joel Wilson’s decision-making was impacted by India not having any reviews left.

Cameron Green’s dismissal was described as a “real turning point.” (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)

“That was a real changing point (in the innings),” said Waugh.

“That’s probably given not out most days of the week,” he said.

“The umpire was probably thinking Australia have got reviews, India haven’t, so I’ll give it out then leave it up to Australia to review.”

Haddin agreed: “It was a big call, that Cameron Green LBW, it was a 50-50 at best,” he said.

“If both teams have reviews there, the umpire doesn’t give that out.”

Waugh and Haddin’s explosive comments sparked fierce debate on social media with Zero Digital Sports editor and grade umpire Scott Pryde calling it “absolute dross.”

“Mark Waugh just doesn’t know the laws of the game and it annoys me no end,” he said.

Five-time ICC Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, who also sits on the MCC’s Laws sub-committee and worked as the ICC’s Umpire Performance and Training Manager, confirmed to news.com.au that “the umpire’s focus is to get the decision right in the first place.”

Mark Waugh and Brad Haddin believed Cameron Green was given out because India had no reviews left. Pictures: Fox Cricket

Taufel rebuked any suggestion from Waugh and Haddin that the umpires involved the number of reviews in their decision-making process.

“I can confirm that they are not trained to double think the decision based on who has reviews and who does not.”

Taufel umpired 74 Test matches and 174 ODIs, including the 2011 World Cup final.

The third Test is Australia’s for the taking, chasing only 75 on day three to win their first Test in India since 2017, when Steve O’Keefe famously took 12 wickets for the match to spin Australia to victory.

With the nature of the extraordinary turning Indore wicket, however, even chasing 75 will not be a straightforward task, although it would require Australia to create unwanted history in the process if they were to not make it.

Last time a Test side failed to chase 75 to win a Test, it was a loss so humiliating that an obituary was written in the Sporting Times, sparking what we now know as The Ashes.