After a short delay Australia's Phillip Hughes, left, walks back to the pavilion as Ricky Ponting, 2nd left, looks at umpires Billy Doctrove, 2nd right, and Rudi Koertzen on the fourth day of the second Ashes Test match between England and Australia at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, July 19, 2009. Hughes was caught out by Andrew Strauss off a ball from James Anderson for 17 runs. AP Photo/Tom Hevezi
On the now rare occasions that Simon Taufel umpires a 50 over international match in Australia, it can be relied upon that an Australian commentator will declare him to be the world’s best and rue the fact that he and other native umpires cannot stand in Test matches involving Australia.
Taufel is indeed very good, but the rest of Australia’s first class umpires are not.
Steve Davis has never been reliable and is close to retirement; Darrell Harper is worse and his recent performance in South Africa are typical in its ineptitude.
There is some hope that Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker could reach the required standard, but they need more time.
Therefore it is ludicrous to suggest the replacement of neutral umpires.
This is not just an issue of competence but also bias – actual and perceived. In the twenty years prior to the introduction of neutral umpires, all Australian Test umpires regularly gave decisions favouring the home side.
I heard one commentator say recently that if Shane Warne had more of his appeals upheld, he would have had 1000 wickets. Without the help of Darrell Hair and his compatriots, he could well have had 100 less.
Australian sportsmen are the most competitive in the world, and when they retire to enter the commentary box or don a white coat, it is understandable that they find impartiality a most difficult challenge.
The Channel 9 team don’t even try to achieve it and Australian umpires from Hair through to Harper, with the exception of Taufel, might have tried but they have failed.
For the sake of Test cricket, neutral umpires must be kept at the crease.
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