Retired Australian umpire Simon Taufel urged cricket administrators across the globe on Thursday to show their support to umpires, just like the players. Taufel, who has written a book ‘Finding the Gaps’ was interacting with a group of local umpires here, whom he gave tips on umpiring as well.
“Sourav Ganguly, when he became the (BCCI) president, he was talking about how important it is to have a strong domestic system. And there are umpires, who are part of domestic system. And I encourage every country, not just India, to have an umpire’s manager, to have an umpire’s coach, to have an umpire’s trainer, to have people in administration and logistics to solely look after umpiring and refereeing,” Simon Taufel said here.
“I see far too many examples in the world where a first-class team has more support, management and more resources dedicated to performance improvement than the national body of umpires,” he said. “If you want people to achieve their potential, if you want them to get to (become) world class, they need support, they need environment of trust, safety and respect, meritocracy and transparency, exactly as the players do…”
Taufel also shared that umpires are “human” also and they do feel bad as well when their decisions go wrong.
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“So, when an umpire gets it wrong, we feel terrible, we feel bad. It hurts, because we make an impact on the game,” said Taufel, who became the ‘ICC Umpire of the Year’ for five times.
He also talked about ‘Mankading’, saying it was a “run-out” and nothing else.
“The non-strikers belong behind the crease, if they are not there as the bowler’s runs in, what is the ultimate penalty they are going to pay — they can be dismissed. So, they don’t want to get run-out, they should stay in their crease, it is pretty simple,” he said.
“I know some people don’t like (it) and I am one of those people. It is poor way of playing cricket, but it is the law of the game. And if you don’t want the umpire to give you out, then don’t leave early,” said Taufel.
However, we all know how ‘Mankading’ became the highlight during the IPL earlier this year when Ravichandran Ashwin did to dismiss the batsman during a game.
