Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has earned one demerit point along with the official warning after he showed a dissent on a third umpire decision during the recent Centurion Test match against the hosts South Africa.
Chasing down the fourth innings target 149 runs, South Africa was in the early period of their innings when that incident happened. It was the ninth over of that innings when the Protease opener Dean Elgar found an edge against the Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi’s delivery that travelled towards the first slip Azhar Ali and he grabbed that at the lowest position.
As the on-field umpire wasn’t sure, they went for the third umpire decision with the soft signal was “out”. It was a very close decision as many replays failed to clarify whether that catch was taken cleanly or not, there was also no strong evidence that it was not a legal catch.
After observing it many times, the third umpire Joel Wilson changed the decision with the not out which surprised the entire visiting side. Pakistan head coach Arthur was very furious on that decision as he showed dissent at Wilson in the TV umpire’s room before storming out of the room.
Elgar Catch pic.twitter.com/3n64hAUsEW
— Grenville Salmon (@Pacer_Gren) December 28, 2018
According to ICC statement, “Arthur, after TV umpire Joel Wilson had decided in favour of Dean Elgar, entered the TV umpire’s room and showed dissent at Mr Wilson’s decision by first questioning him and then storming out of the room.”
In result, Arthur has been warned for his behaviour and he further earned one demerit point for it. As he has admitted the offence and accepted the sanction, there will be no formal hearing.
The ICC statement added, “After the match, the Pakistan coach admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee David Boon. As such, there was no need for a formal hearing.”
On the other hand, the former Caribbean cricketer and present commentator Michael Holding felt that was out as there was no strong evidence to favour the batsman.
Holding told on the live commentary, “I’m convinced he was out. I think the third umpire made a mistake. The protocol says you have got to be 100 percent sure the decision was wrong to change it.”
Elgar played a half-century knock as he scored 50 runs and provided a very crucial 119-run partnership for the second wicket with Hashim Amla. South Africa won the game by six wickets as they reached the target successfully after losing four wickets in that innings.
