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Dave does well again in India
In September I received a call from India asking me to return to umpire in the new ICL 20/20 series that was being held in October and November. After my last trip it was a decision I had real ease in making. Of course I would!
The umpiring team for this tournament was different from the last visit. Jeff Evans and the other first class umpires had been prevented from attending by the ECB who viewed the ICL as a rebel league. They had been replaced by Allan Jones, the former Glamorgan and England player, who had just retired from the First Class list, and Dave Orchard from Australia, an ICC Elite Umpire who had also just stood down. There was an umpire drafted in from Ireland whom I knew well, Keith Smith, and my old mates Ranmore Martinez from Sri Lanka and Shakeel Khan from Pakistan who had been with me at the last tournament.
Old faces and new faces
It was odd not having Jeff around. He had been the reason I was out there in the first place, having first put my name forward to the organisers, and we had spent a huge amount of time together during the last trip. He had been my mentor at this level and I had learnt a lot from him. It was going to be difficult not having him around but fortunately Allan Jones proved to be a great replacement. He was really easy to get on with and was soon helping out with advice and practical tips. We struck up a friendship almost immediately and we speak to each other regularly on umpiring issues. He has become a good friend, as has Ranmore who e-mails me weekly to discuss anything and everything. The team gelled very well indeed.
Julie was a bonus
One added bonus for me on this second occasion was that my wife Julie was coming with me for the whole tournament and that would be her first trip to India. I was looking forward to seeing her reactions to the experience, but more about that later.
We had 36 games scheduled before the finals and I was listed to do 24 of them as we started off in Hyderabad, moved to Delhi and then to Chandigarh before finishing at a new venue in Ahmedabad. It was a busy schedule to say the least!
Ahmedabad proved to be a hot and dusty bowl and everyone had problems with the atmosphere. It was very dry and the air heavily polluted. At night the dust would settle over the ground and it was very hazy. The most sought-after kit proved to be a bottle of Optrex drops that we all shared to stop our eyes from smarting. It was pretty uncomfortable most of the time but it proved to be a fantastic venue for the crowds and it always had a great feel to it. All the finals were to be played there so we set about acclimatising as soon as we could. After ten days or so we started to get used to it but it is not a place I would want to retire to!
Expectations lived up to
The cricket lived up to expectations too. There was a new team in the competition, Dhaka Warriors, who were in fact the Bangladesh national team who had signed up to the ICL almost to a man. They proved to be entertaining and a great draw for the crowd but they never really threatened the big guns from Lahore and the established international players. The void between them was a sure sign that Bangladesh has a long way to go yet before becoming a force in international cricket.
Most of the big names were back and it didn’t take long for us all to settle in again. The competition was tough and we had the referral system again that put the umpires under scrutiny. Each team was allowed three referrals a game. It they won the referral they kept it but if not it was gone so it became important to use them wisely. It became such an integral part of the game it was almost as if we had always umpired with it. You had to put it out of your mind and just get on with the decision making. At the end, analysis of the system showed that as a team we were getting the vast majority of our decisions right. That said, it did have its problems. Even using all the technology, sometimes the third umpire couldn’t get the angle he needed, or it was obscured or unclear. In those circumstances the on field umpires decision stood.
Julie plays a part
Away from the cricket, other wives joined the tour and on one day Julie and I set off for a trip to the Taj Mahal with Ranmore, Keith and respective spouses. It was a great day. The place was heaving and it was impossible to find a quiet corner to just take it all in, but it really is something to behold. Everyone said the four-hour drive was worth the effort.
Jules proved to be a big attraction for the locals. Everywhere we went she found herself surrounded by people asking where she was from and what was she doing and having photographs taken with people she didn’t know. It was a strange experience but very humbling. It seems they don’t get many tourists where we were and everyone wanted to join in with us. I have to say we never felt threatened, far from it. Everyone was really nice and friendly and couldn’t do enough for us. One highlight for Jules was a trip one evening when we had a night off between finals, when we all went to a street market. We walked the streets and ate fresh corn on the cob from a local vendor surrounded by kids and mothers who were just fascinated at these strangers. Poverty was everywhere and so we all chipped in and bought all the vendors corn off him and handed it out to all the kids. We were swamped within minutes but we left a very happy group of kids behind tucking into hot food. I have to say, our minders were a little perturbed but they let us have our way, despite almost causing a riot when the kids descended upon us!
Cricket finals begin –
and almost end in riots
Back to the cricket. The finals were almost upon us before we were told who was doing the games. We had been marked throughout the tournament by both captains and coaches and now it was decision time. It appears I had been doing okay. I was second in the markings behind Allan who pipped me by a couple of points. Ranmore was third and Dave Orchard fourth. It was a great confidence boost.
I umpired the first semi-final, was third umpire for the second semi and the first final, and listed to do the field for the second final . . . . . . . . And what a game that turned into. Lahore were playing Hyderabad and it was the hardest game I have ever done. Lahore had won the first game and were looking to wrap the tournament up that night. We had over 52,000 people in the ground at Ahmedabad and a worldwide TV audience and what happened brought back memories of the Oval and Darrell Hair. Ranmore was my colleague for the day with Allen in the third umpire’s chair.
After-match thoughts
Where do I start? I've just umpired the hardest game of my life and I'm sure it will rumble on for a while yet. The second final was being billed as the game to see, and that's what it turned out to be, albeit for all the wrong reasons. We had arrived at the ground early and Ranmore and I had been and spoken to the captains, Chris Harris and Inzimam ul Haq, about what we expected from them and about how we would handle any queries over the condition of the ball. We made it very clear that any decision to change the ball, at any time, would be ours and ours alone. That accepted, we all shook hands and prepared for the game. Inzimam won the toss yet again and elected to bowl first, immediately putting Hyderabad on the back foot. Jimmy Maher opened the batting and he took the attack to the bowlers from the very first ball. With Kaleel, the young Indian wicketkeeper, he dominated the game, racing to 50 in no time. The score had reached 78 before Maher played one shot too many and was bowled, but his onslaught had set up the prospect of a big score and the crowd were out of their seats cheering every ball.
Beamer bowled and the ball changed
A bowling change at my end saw Shahid brought into the attack and not long into his spell he sent down a fast beamer that hit Kaleel on the upper arm. He screamed in pain and went down clutching his arm. There was no doubt is was accidental but Shahid had to go into the book for a warning. Kaleel received some treatment and tried to bat on but finally had to retire after his arm went dead. This caused Hyderabad to lose their momentum and runs bacame hard to get for the new batsmen. Ranmore had a couple of shouts for LBW at his end which he gave Not Out and which were referred, but his decisions were upheld by Alan in the box.
Around the 11th over, the batsmen started making comments about the colour of the ball so we inspected it. It was fine and nowhere near as bad as it had been when it had been changed in the previous game so we threw it back and told them to play on. From that point, every time they mishit a shot and missed the ball they were muttering about it. By the 15th over, we agreed that the ball was very dark and asked for box of spares to be brought on.
Almost immediately, Inzimam was over complaining and saying it shouldn't be changed. We quietly told him to go away and we selected a replacement and threw it to the bowler. Inzi was back at us again, moaning about the new one now, saying it was too new. Ranmore and I were having none of it and just walked away from him and told him to bowl. He carried on muttering but realised he was not going to get his way and the game continued. Hyderabad managed to muster 158 in their 20 overs and at that point it seemed far short of what would have been a good score.
LBW frolics
At the break we just sat quietly and talked the innings through. It was going well and we were happy with things from our perspective. Lahore had the game for the taking and it was set up nicely for the second half when we recommenced. Razzaq opened the bowling from my end and he kept the prolific Imran Nazir quiet for the first over with some tight bowling. His second over however was even better and second ball he jagged one back in from outside the off to hit Nazir right in front. The whole ground went up in appeal and I raised the finger. He was plumb. He seemed to accept it and turned to go but then stopped and shouted to the other batsman, I assume asking if he thought he should refer it. He did, and so Nazir asked for it to go to Alan. I was happy to agree because I was wholly confident he was gone. While we were waiting Harris was whinging about the fact that I had accepted the referral. He thought he had turned to go and so should have been sent on his way. I disagreed and told him so. It was my call and that was that. When we were talking the radio went and it was Alan telling me that the screen was down but Nazir was out and I should give it again. I waved Harris away, called Nazir and raised the finger. This time he had to go and the fact Lahore had lost a referral so early on in the game, brought a wry smile from Harris but he was still moaning though. This brought Rana to the crease and he had been having a tremendous tournament with the bat. Not tonight though. Razzaq removed his off stump two balls later and Lahore were 8 for 2! The crowd were stunned into silence, well almost silence. Being a mainly Muslim area close to the Pakistan border, they were supporting Lahore and this was not what they had come to watch.
Shahid Yousuf, joined Farhat in the centre and got into the resurrection act right away racing away to 33 off only 13 balls and at the end of the 6th over Lahore had recovered at 46/2. At this point Harris introduced his premiere spinner Nicky Boje into the attack at my end. Almost immediately he went up for a hugh appeal against Farhat who was trying to sweep him. The ball had bounced and had hit him on the body while he was down on his knee. I had a good luck but for me it was going down the leg anyway and so I gave it Not Out. Boje looked at Harris and they started discussing whether or not to refer it. Harris then asked the keeper what he thought. By now over the ten seconds allowed for a referral to be made had passed and I had decided that if he did request it I was going to say no. I was braced for an argument but it never came. The keeper agreed with me and so they left it! The game was bubbling up nicely and we still had no idea when lay ahead.
Big fifty and bigger problems
A magnificent six over long off brought Yousuf his maiden ICL fifty off 26 balls, but it was Harris who had the last laugh getting him to nick one to the keeper off the very next ball, to leave the Lahore chase in deep trouble at 81/5. The defending champions were brilliant in the field with their spin attack working full throttle to destroy the Lahore middle order leaving them in complete despair at 103/8 at the 15 over mark. An upset was on the cards. This left just the bowlers to try and rescue them and they had some success hitting a few sixes to close the gap but it was now that the preverbial hit the fan! Sami had hit18 off 10 balls when he went for another big drive. He seemed to have middled it and it was sailing high towards the long on fence in front of the Hyderabad dugout, when Justin Kemp running flat out jumped into the air, reversed his hand and plucked the ball from high over his head landing just inside the rope. It was a remarkable catch, one of the best I have ever seen and the celebrations began. Ranmore was on the radio straight away to ask Alan to check the catch was clean and Kemp had not touched the boundary. Sami was well on his way off the field but stopped to await the decision. Alan looked at it from three angles and called us back. It was clean, Sami was out. Ranmore signalled to him he was out and he continued to walk off as Hyderabad celebrated. Suddenly we saw him stop and noticed that the coach and the other players were telling him to stay on the ground. They were shouting and complaining that Kemp had touched the rope when he landed, and wanted it to be given Not Out.
Ranmore called Alan again for confirmation in case we had heard him wrong in all the noise but no. "He's Out. Definitely Out" was the reply. We had reached crisis point. Sami was told to get off the field and his team were telling him to stay. Both dugouts were arguing and hurling abuse at each other and Harris asked us what was happening. We told him that Sami was out and that was that but there was no sign of the last batsman coming to the crease. We asked Harris if he wanted to appeal for Timed Out but he just shrugged his shoulders and called his team to leave the field to their dugout. To give a batsman out we need an appeal and for Timed Out we are required to establish if there is a genuine reason for why the batsman had failed to take the field. Ranmore and I discussed it briefly and agreed that we needed to go to the Lahore team to establish what was happening. As we walked towards them Inzimam came out to meet us. He complained that Kemp had touched the rope and asked us to reconsider our decision. We told him it had been checked three times and Sami was out and he had to accept that.
Calm diplomacy needed
It had all the makings of another Oval incident as there was still no sign of the batsman and Inzi was still complaining. Finally I put my hand on his shoulder and said to him "Inzi for the good of cricket I am asking you to accept the decision and send your last man in to bat. We are not going to overule the third umpire." To our relief he just turned back to the dugout and called the batsman to come onto the field. The match was back on. Hyderabad were called back and play recommenced under almost a seige mentality. Bottles and bricks were being thrown onto the ground and tension was high. The last two batsmen made a fist of it and clawed their way to within eight runs of the Hyderabad score with one over to go. Any result was on the cards now, but nerves got the better of the batsman and the last man was run out at my end off the first ball of the over. He was so far out I didn't refer it and just raised the finger. He didn't even look at me. He knew he was gone and dragged himself off as Hyderabad celebrated a remarkable win.
Needless to say as we left the field there were allegations of cheating and complaints about Alan with Lahore saying they were going to report him to the Anti Corruption Squad and all sorts of nonsense. We talked to Inzimam again and explained everything to him but he didn't want to hear and complained bitterly about everything. We just left him and went into the umpires’ room to collapse in the chair. It didn't last long. The Hyderabad coach was in almost straight away but thankfully it was to thank us for the way we had handled the match. We just nodded and shook hands. We were mentally drained and totally knackered but we couldn't head for the hotel yet. The car park was full of irate fans and we had to wait for security to clear them before they would let us leave. We didn't put up a fight.
Deserved late drink
It was well past midnight before we arrived back at our hotel and it was straight into our room, known as Bar 207, to clear the dust from our throats. We were soon joined by Orchy, Alan, Ranmore, Dave, the Aussie Security Officer who had looked after us, and then Tim the TV producer. Next morning Ranmore, Alan and I did our match report and laid into both sides for their conduct. We recommended that the ICL Board deal with this at the highest level. What they will do, if anything, we will have to wait and see. As for the immediate future we have the final final to play tonight. Thankfully I am not involved and will watch it from the pavilion. What will happen is anybody’s guess but that was the hardest game I have ever done and not one I will forget in a hurry.
(The last final was won by Lahore by 8 wickets, Imran Nazir hitting 111 off 40 balls with an injured leg and a runner! An amazing innings!)
Back to normal before real trouble flared up
After that Jules and I flew down to Goa for four days on the beach. I had been asked to stay to umpire the International Tournament that was to follow the 20/20 with the same lads who had done the finals. Again it was nice to be in such company.
We had a lazy few days of sun, sea and sand which was very welcome after the smog of Ahmedabad before flying back for another week’s cricket. Sadly that was cut short by the Mumbai attacks after we had played just four games. I had umpired the first two and was to stand in the last three, including the final, but the terrorists put paid to that. On the morning of the attacks we were asked to stay in our hotel and wait for news of what was happening. The evening game involved Pakistan, but of course as soon as the news got out that the attackers were from Pakistan that was never going to happen. There was no way the authorities could guarantee the safety of the players and so it was cancelled almost immediately and the Pakistani players were rushed to the airport and flown out of India. It was a sad end to proceedings and the aftermath still rumbles on. I was supposed to be in India now umpiring the March/April tournament but this has been postponed for the same security reasons. Unlike the IPL, we are not moving it out of India yet. I have been asked if I would be prepared to go to Sharjah or the USA to umpire for the ICL and I have said yes, but for the moment we are in limbo. The word is we will be back in India in October for the next games but a lot can happen between now and then. If it comes off I’ll be delighted and I’ll be there but if it doesn’t, I’ll have plenty of fabulous memories to look back on.
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