Negative side to neutral umpires in Ashes contest

Two the three most inexperienced umpires on the elite panel were given key roles in the Ashes because of the neutral umpire rule.

England captain Joe Root holds up the ball for umpire Joel Wilson to smell during the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. Picture: Getty Images

Two of the three most inexperienced umpires on the elite panel were given key roles in the first three Ashes Tests because of the rule that demands neutral umpires.

Under-fire West Indian Joel Wilson, who was subject to 15 of a stunning 20 decision reviews in the first Test at Edgbaston, was only elevated to the ICC’s elite umpiring panel in June.

The Birmingham match was just his 14th Test as an umpire and only the newly added Englishman Michael Gough, who has stood in just nine Tests, has had less experience.

Wilson equalled the record for the most decisions overturned in a Test match, with eight, in Birmingham, but will be TV umpire for the second Ashes clash at Lord’s before returning to the field in the third match at Leeds.

New Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney, the third least-experienced member of the ICC’s 12-member elite panel, will be on field at Lord’s as part of a three-man team, with the panel’s most experienced member, Aleem Dar, given the task of overseeing the first two Tests.

Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena, who was at the centre of a wrong call in the World Cup final that handed victory to England, will be the TV umpire for the third Test at Leeds.

Then Dharmasena’s countryman Ruchira Palliyaguruge, who has stood in just two Tests, will be in charge along with South Africa’s Marais Erasmus for the fourth and fifth games.

There were strong calls for the neutral umpire rule to be reviewed in the wake of the Edgbaston match, in which Dar was also responsible for five wrong decisions across the first two days.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who is on the MCC’s cricket committee that guides the game’s law makers, said he would put the matter on the agenda at their next meeting.

But the men chosen to officiate through the five-Test Ashes series are the only ones available because the other seven members of the elite umpiring panel are all from England or Australia.

One of them is former Australian Test bowler Paul Reiffel.

Despite having stood in one-day internationals involving Australia, ICC rules prohibit him from officiating a Test match involving the country for which he played 127 international matches.

England captain Joe Root was twice given out, incorrectly, by Wilson in his second innings at Edgbaston, but said there was no use “pointing fingers”.

“Players make bad decisions from time to time, lose their wicket or get smacked out of the attack. Umpires are going to make mistakes as well,” Root later said.

“It’s very easy to over-criticise. Sometimes there has to be respect and understand they’re under as much pressure as some of the players. They might have got a fair few decisions wrong in this game but that’s all part and parcel of cricket.

“As long as the players understand and accept that, it’s the same for both sides.”

The ICC takes into consideration the “best available umpires” in its appointments. A change to the team assigned for Lord’s was not considered.

HERALD SUN