A fundamental principle in umpiring is that when there is a doubt the decision must go in favor of the batsman. This is and was true for both Nafis' and Basher's dismissals. It can be argued that the later is a judgment call and there is a room for error. However, in case of Nafis, it is simply incompetence on the part of the presiding umpire.
I am most surprised by Jones silence. Why doesn't he say that he thought the ball carried or he was not sure at the time? Instead we took the fifth. To lot of us that is an admission of guilt. Finally, it is shame that the match referee snubbed any prospect investigation under his boots.
Weaker teams always get a bigger share of bad decisions and while they can ill afford even a single one. Only way combat this type discrimination is to answer it on the field by overcoming such miscues, inadvertent or otherwise, by the superior performance,
|