The first Test between the West Indies and Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados, has sparked considerable controversy regarding umpiring decisions. Two days into the game, there have already been five decisions that have raised eyebrows.
On Day 1 of the Test match, Travis Head edged one of Shamar Joseph and Shai Hope behind the stumps, have claimed to take the catch. However, as the decision was sent upstairs and Adrian Holdstock, who is the third umpire for the game, decided it was not out, citing a lack of clear evidence if the catch from Hope was taken cleanly.
Incident 2: West Indian skipper gets lucky
In the first over of Day 2, a delivery from Josh Hazlewood to Roston Chase appeared to hit the pad first, which the Australians appealed for an LBW shout. And once given, not out on the field, it was sent upstairs, and there would be a small spike as the ball passes the front pad and then takes the edge of the bat, the Australian would celebrate; however, to their dismay, Holdstock asks for onfield umpires to stay with their decision of not out
Incident 3: West Indian skipper gets unlucky
Australian skipper Pat Cummins appeals for an LBW, and this time, on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough raised his finger. Chase has a glance at his inside edge and sends the decision upstairs. While there was no spike on Ultraedge, the ball seemed to have deflected when close to the bat. However, Holdstock deemed as there was clear gap between bat and ball and judged Chase LBW.
Incident 4: Role and fate reversal for Hope
This time it would be Shai hope who edged Beau Webster’s delivery and Alex Carey makes a stunning attempt diving to his left. Kettleborough not convinced with the catch sends it upstairs and although there was evidence of ball brushing the ground before reaching the hands of Carey Holdstock surpringlsy gives it out.
Incident 5: Fortune favours Green
A delivery from Justin Greaves to Green was sent upstairs for review by Chase after on-field umpire Nitin Menon gave it not out for LBW. Compared to the other decisions made this was rather a difficult one but yet ended up controversial. There was an edge from Green however, it was unclear if the ball has brushed the pad before and Holdstock declared it was not out.
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Who said what?
Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc: “There’s been some interesting ones. A couple more (DRS calls) have gone against the West Indies than us. As players, you can only ask a question, we don’t use the technology to make the decision. It’s a grey area so it comes down to the perception of the officials.”
West Indian head coach Darren Sammy: “I just had a chat with the match referee trying to find some understanding of what the process is. We only hope for consistency in the decision making. When there’s doubt in something, just be consistent across the board. From the images that we’re seeing, the decisions are not fair enough for both teams. I’ve asked the match referee for a sit down. We’re all humans, mistakes will be made, I just want fairness.”
Reactions on commentary
Ian Bishop: “Officiating is low-hanging fruit. What needs to happen here, when I put my emotions aside, the umpires perhaps need, and they probably do have a meeting after the day’s play, they will review these decisions and I think we may get better interpretations … you have to get that going forward. I think they would probably have learned a few things [by] looking at that.”
Carlos Brathwaite: “There are not many fans of [third umpire] Adrian Holdstock in the West Indies at the moment,”
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Samuel Badree: “It’s unfortunate, it really is unfortunate. It feels as though everything has gone against the West Indians.”
Greg Blewett: “I felt like the third umpire had some really tough decisions to make. A lot of them weren’t really clear decisions; it was down to a bit of interpretations. I think Australia got on the right end of the decisions.”
