Bucknor sacrificed to appease Indians

Steve Bucknor has been told not to stand at Perth next week following his performance during the Monkeygate test. Wickman despairs. There’s been too much anti umpire hysteria for his liking recently. Ever since the ICC started talking about umpires getting 95 per cent of their decisions right and Simon Taufel started banging on about how good he was it seems that pundits and players have declared open season on the men in the white coats. The clamour for perfect decision making is damaging the game.

For years “homer” umpires were criticised for cheating. There’s that famous picture of Michael Holding trying to kick his way out of New Zealand after their umpires cheated the Windies out of a series in the late 70s. The English players had an awful series against Pakistan even before Fat Gatt had his run in with Shakoor Rana in the 80s where the Pakistanis were essentially playing French cricket in the series to protect their stumps so sure were they that they wouldn’t be out.

But Bucknor’s not a homer. He’s an elite umpire standing as a neutral. Now he may well have lost “it”. He didn’t seem to be on top form in this test. And the Indians may feel aggrieved about the decisions that they feel cost them the chance of a win. It’s fair to say that the Indian team got the worst of the decisions in this particular test match. There’s no question that The Brummie Turncoat was out caught behind. There was that stumping that Dhoni made which looked out too – although to the naked eye it was pretty much in and only multiple television replays could give it out. Dhoni was hardly leaping around like a Salmon on his way to spawn. It was more a polite enquiry. “Any chance Steve old man? No? Fair enough.” Mike Hussey looked dead in front in his second innings early on. Was that Buckers or Mark Benson who didn’t give it? Can’t remember. The game became a bit noxious on the last afternoon obviously and you might argue that it got out of hand. But the last time a Test umpire tried to take control of a test with any force Darrel Hair lost his job…

So campaigning to have him removed from the series because he had a bad couple of days in the office? Surely this is wrong? How much pressure will he be under the next time he officiates? Will they demote him to one day internationals?

Wickman must have missed something here. Wickman thought that the Indians were pissed off about one of their number being branded a racist. For what its worth, if Singh called Symonds a monkey it was at best ill-judged and at worst he deserves to sit out a few tests and think about the consequences – unless someone can point out some socio-cultural thing about monkeys in India which means that he’d equally call Punter one. Perhaps calling someone a monkey in India is a polite way of informing them that you think they masturbate too enthusiastically in public? Certainly Wickman can remember asking Mrs Wickman Sr about what a London Zoo primate inmate was up to on a visit in the mid 1970s. Wickman thinks she told him the monkey was shining an apple. Funny looking apple.

So why sacrifice Bucknor and what does it mean for the game? Bucknor seems to have been crucified because India lost this test, the Australians were quite loud in the field and put them under pressure and one of their number has been had up for calling a brown skinned man a monkey. None of which was Bucknor’s fault.

The Indian management and contingent in Australia have been determined to secure some sort of face saving victory in the public relations battle which ensued after Monkeygate blew up and they lost the test. So they’ve been attacking everyone and everything and for some reason the ICC have caved in, sacrificing Bucknor’s hard won reputation for fair play and competence (he has to be competent – he’s on the elite panel of eight) into the bargain to save Mike Proctor from having to reverse his decision. Give in over this one so that they don’t have to give in on something that they can’t control…

And there’s an article here, containing quotes from named senior ICC officials indicating that they did sacrifice Bucknor to keep the peace! Just read it!

Here's the juicy bits: Meanwhile, ICC president Ray Mali also backed the decision to remove Bucknor from officiating in Perth. "We recognised from the outset that the umpiring in the second Test was below the very high standard we have come to expect from our Elite Panel and we noted with concern the enormous reaction to it and realised that we could potentially have a serious international diplomatic incident on our hands," Mali said. "By standing Steve down for the third Test we have successfully defused the situation, at least for the time being, and so what was a sporting issue has not become a political crisis.

"We could easily have taken an inflexible stance and gone toe-to-toe with those who were calling for Steve's withdrawal but instead we chose to adopt a more diplomatic and reasonable approach. And on balance it was the right thing to do, for the game and for the series.”

Wickman says “rubbish”. It’s a pretty poor deal for Bucknor. If umpires were stood down every time they made a cod’s head of a couple of decisions we wouldn’t have a panel. The ICC has caved into sustained pressure from the Indian board and then said when talking about the Harbhajan appeal:

"We can't have one set of rules for the India team and another set for everyone else," he said. "We will follow the process and and I hope whatever the outcome all parties will be able to say they have had a fair hearing."

Right. Basically it comes down to this. Make veiled threats that you'll pull out of a tour. Posture in the media. Throw your weight around in private talking about TV deals. Enrage your own nation (This was not a slur against all Indians, just one, Harbhajan in the same way that Hair was accusing a couple of unnamed Pakistanis at the Oval not a Nation - crikey when Ian Botham was busted for admitting to smoking a bit of weed it didn't turn England and Wales into a pot den). This way you get the increasingly powerless ICC to do what you want and try to neatly move the focus from a decision about racisim to one of umpiring competence...