The last Ashes without referrals – a running tally of umpiring errors

[Richard]

The Katich LBW was one of those ones where on first sighting it looked not out, and then every time I saw a replay it seemed more and more out. There was a lot going on inside a split second, and the not-out decision was certainly not a hanging offence.

Moreorless exactly what I said then.

 

[Richard]

Clarke given n\o by Dar off Onions to the plumbest lbw you'll see... 5-3 to Australia on that score at the moment.

The Watt0 let-off last night turned-out not to be massively important, incidentally, obviously.

 

[Top_Cat]

Clarke given LBW when not. Pretty ordinary decision too.

 

[Richard]

So after a let-off, Clarke gets a saw-off a few overs later. Plumb lbw and not given then given to one sliding down leg.

That's now 4-1 to England on that score, 5-3 to Australia on the n\os.

 

[Top_Cat]

5-1.

 

[Richard]

Haha, yup, Johnson leaves one that's plumb on line but undoubtedly too high. So often you see an "out" mistake more common when a batsman leaves one that thunders into his pad.

 

[Top_Cat]

5-4 on not-outs after an absolute stinker of an LBW shout by Johnson turned down by..... *drumroll* Koertzen!

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

That was horribly bad. Like, "American Pie: The Naked Mile" bad.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Worst decision of the series by a distance.

 

[Jamee999]

Yeah, that was terrible. Koertzen's an awful umpire.

 

[Furball]

Clarke given n\o by Dar off Onions to the plumbest lbw you'll see... 5-3 to Australia on that score at the moment.

The Watt0 let-off last night turned-out not to be massively important, incidentally, obviously.

Have to wonder what the hell Dar saw for that one. It just looked dead on first viewing, and looked worse every time I watched it.

 

[GIMH]

What are you lot going on about, Bell middled it onto his pads

 

[fredfertang]

Worst decision of the series by a distance.

That was Mike Hussey's wasn't it?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

What are you lot going on about, Bell middled it onto his pads

(sualk)

 

[mat]

What are you lot going on about, Bell middled it onto his pads

Watched the highlight reel just a sec ago. Looked pretty plumb to me, a faint edge if any.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Watched the highlight reel just a sec ago. Looked pretty plumb to me, a faint edge if any.

In that case if you were the umpire and thought there was a possibility of a faint edge you would have to give it not out based on the benefit of the doubt going to the batsman.

 

[Uppercut]

Watched the highlight reel just a sec ago. Looked pretty plumb to me, a faint edge if any.

Don't take him seriously, he's just having a laugh. That ball was closer to the edge of Middle-Earth.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

In that case if you were the umpire and thought there was a possibility of a faint edge you would have to give it not out based on the benefit of the doubt going to the batsman.

Just an aside, but I'm not sure I agree with that. A "possibility of a faint edge" is a bit too vague to be reasonable doubt. On those grounds you'd have to give every single LBW decision where the bat was anywhere near the ball not out. Of course it's possible that the batsman could have hit the ball, but the umpire actually has to think that it's likely he did to give the batsman not out - ie: hear a noise or see deviation or something.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, that was terrible. Koertzen's an awful umpire.

He's having about the worst game I've ever seen him (or indeed most people who aren't Daryl Harper or Asoka de Silva) have here and hasn't been particularly good for the last year or two, but he's far from an awful Umpire and was in fact voted the best by the players in 2004 or 2005, somewhere around there.

People tend to forget how good Umpires can be when they're in the middle of watching them have a dreadful game. Same way some people get different impressions of the same Umpires because they watch different games.

 

[Uppercut]

He's having about the worst game I've ever seen him (or indeed most people who aren't Daryl Harper or Asoka de Silva) have here and hasn't been particularly good for the last year or two, but he's far from an awful Umpire and was in fact voted the best by the players in 2004 or 2005, somewhere around there.

People tend to forget how good Umpires can be when they're in the middle of watching them have a dreadful game. Same way some people get different impressions of the same Umpires because they watch different games.

Koertzen's been poor for a long time. He was responsible for some horrendous lbw decisions for spinners during England's tour of the West Indies.

Also remember him failing to refer a run-out that was quite comfortably out during an IPL game. Those kinds of mistakes stick in your head because they're more than basic errors of judgement.