Darrel Harper is in a weird mood these days. It’s almost as if he is aware of how much the world hates him, and he is out on a mission to piss the world off even more. Maybe that is exactly the case.
We all are aware of how stupendously shitty his umpiring is these days. Add to that the balls of the ICC to appoint him as the third umpire, which in these, the days of the UDRS incubation, has become the most important adjudication position. Did he screw up? You bet my blog he did!
I didn’t watch this, as I was mid-air when it happened, but happen it did. Greame Smith, one of the bovine meadow dwellers, nicked a ball to the keeper. Yes, he did nick that. No doubt about it.
What apparently happened was that the field umpire didn’t give it, so the Poms obviously referred it, as he had indeed nicked the ball. After a few replays, Harper ruled against England.
Pandemonium ensued. England had lost a referral, and much of their faith in the system of justice. The bovines rejoiced, the bully thought he had won. Yes he had, but how fair was that?
The alleged truth was, Harper was not provided with the audio feed of the replay, just the video was what he could see on his monitors. That explained his ruling Smith not out. Suddenly, all the blame fell on the broadcaster.
Just when Harper thought this was all over, the broadcaster hit back at him, in a blame game of the nature last seen in Elite Indian Politics. Take a look:
“third umpire Daryl Harper had his volume dial set on four out of 10 when Smith’s caught behind appeal was referred to him this morning. This just gets more ludicrous by the hour. Expect statements from the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the International Cricket Council in an attempt to mollify this debacle.”
HA!
You decide now. I am laughing out too loud to type in more.