[PICTURES/VIDEO] Aleem Dar's controversial ruling on Mitch Santner catch appeal

[MenInG]

Was this out?

===


Mitchell Santner has survived a contentious caught-out review as the Decision Review System was again thrust into the spotlight on day three of the Boxing Day Test.

Test greats Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh and Shane Warne led calls that third umpire Aleem Dar erred in not overturning a review for a catch, while current fast bowler James Pattinson said Australia were convinced the wrong decision had been made.

Australia challenged on-field official Marais Erasmus' decision to give Santner not out after a Mitchell Starc bouncer reared off the batsman and was caught by Travis Head at leg gully.

After consulting with close fielders Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade, who both indicated they believed ball had hit glove before armguard, captain Tim Paine signalled for the review.

The hosts begun celebrating when replays appeared to show the ball making contact with the sweat band of Santner's right glove, which is considered part of the bat of the bat under the Laws of Cricket.

But following a lengthy deliberation, Dar deemed there was "inconclusive" evidence to overturn Erasmus' original decision.

"It looked like it touched the sweatband," Pattinson told Fox Cricket with New Zealand 6-102 at lunch and Santner still at the crease on one not out.

"I suppose you have to go with the on-field umpire's decision but there's a bit of speculation on it."

Spoiler

A pair of decisions the previous day prompted Paine to question the accuracy of ball-tracking technology, but Saturday's incident put the accuracy of a television umpire's verdict into focus.

"That has been missed by the third umpire, absolutely as plain as day," Ponting said on commentary for Channel Seven.

"If you can't get that right, then you shouldn't be doing it. (The sweatband) clearly moves before it goes into the forearm guard. That in my opinion is conclusive evidence."

Warne, on Fox Cricket, concurred, as did Waugh, who said: "That is a very poor decision by the third umpire. You can clearly see the band on the top of the glove moving after the ball brushed it.

"That type of decision is exactly why DRS is used in the game."

Paine told ABC Radio after play on Friday that he "has got a few doubts" about the DRS process after a pair of decisions went against Australia on day two.

In sight of a maiden Test century, Australia's captain walked off shaking his head after being given out lbw for 79 on review to Neil Wagner. Ball-tracking technology suggested he'd been struck just inside the line of off stump.

The hosts then had Ross Taylor given out lbw on field during the final session, but were left stunned when Pattinson's delivery was predicted to have gone over the top of the stumps.

"Oh Christ," Paine told cricket.com.au in exasperation when asked about Australia's DRS dramas. "You've got to be careful what you say about it, don't you?"

"It's difficult to read … I was surprised by the one tonight (off Taylor)."

Speaking to the ABC, he added: "I'm just seeing time and time again, what I see to the naked eye, or watching it on television in real time, and then when it comes up it is sometimes a little bit off the mark."

Domain Test Series v New Zealand

Australia squad: David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Michael Neser, Mitchell Swepson

New Zealand: Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson (c)

First Test: Australia won by 296 runs in Perth

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (Seven, Fox & Kayo)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (Seven, Fox & Kayo)

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/mit...m-dar-tim-paine-marais-erasmus-mcg/2019-12-28


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[MenInG]

Cricket has some curious rules!

 

[Hawkeye]

Dar has been making horrendous decisions for a while now.

Age catching up.

 

[MenInG]

Dar has been making horrendous decisions for a while now.

Age catching up.

But was the decision wrong?

 

[Hawkeye]

But was the decision wrong?

Looked out, why have drs when it's hard to overturn on field decisions.

 

[AFM]

But was the decision wrong?

Yes it was. Aleem Dar has been on the decline for a few years now. He’s become the new Bucknor.

 

[MenInG]

Aleem Dar made headlines during the Ashes in 2013 when he refused to raise the finger after Stuart Broad edged the ball to first slip.

It was a mistake which arguably cost Australia the Test match, but Dar was not entirely to blame — Australia had already wasted their two reviews, the ball appeared to deflect off Brad Haddin’s glove.

On field umpires make errors all the time; it’s why the DRS was introduced in 2008.

However, Dar’s incorrect decision on Saturday at the MCG is inexcusable.

Mitchell Starc’s brutal bouncer during the morning session of day three hit the wristband of Mitch Santner’s glove, and was caught by Travis Head at leg gully.

Marais Erasmus understandably called not out — the deflection was not obvious during live play — and Tim Paine called for a review after some deliberation with his teammates.

Sitting upstairs in the airconditioned third umpire’s room, Dar had plenty of time to watch the replays and rectify the decision, footage from side on clearly showing the ball had struck the glove’s wristband.

Stream the AUS v NZ Domain Test Series LIVE & Ad-Break Free During Play on KAYO with FOX CRICKET’s unmatched commentary line-up. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

The elastic wristband visibly stretched up Santner’s arm upon contact — no fancy technology was needed to decipher whether or not the batsman was out.

Dar spent a considerable amount of time analysing Snicko and HotSpot, which was not conclusive, and hastily rushed past the decisive footage.

Whether it was confusion, an over-reliance on technology, or just laziness, Dar’s reluctance to overturn Erasmus’ decision diminishes his credibility as a world-class umpire.

Fox Cricket commentator Mark Waugh voiced his disgust on Twitter, calling the decision “very poor”.

“That is a very poor decision by the third umpire”, Waugh posted.

“You can clearly see the band on the top of the glove moving after the ball brushed it. That type of decision is exactly why DRS is used in the game.”

Cricket legend Shane Warne was similarly not pleased with Dar, suggesting the Pakistani should have taken his time and looked at more of the available footage.

“The sweatband clearly moved and it should have been overturned,” Warne told foxsports.com.au.

“Sometimes the umpires get it wrong, but I don’t think Dar sees enough of the vision either. He should have asked for more angles before making his decision and I believe he got it wrong.”

“That has been missed by the third umpire, absolutely as plain as day … if you can’t get that right, then you shouldn’t be doing it,” Ponting said.

“(The sweatband) clearly moves before it goes into the forearm guard. That in my opinion is conclusive evidence.”

To rub salt in the wounds, Australia lost a review from Dar’s mistake. Paine struggles enough with DRS as it is.

If Australia had not been in such a dominant position in Melbourne, Australian fans would be calling for the 129-Test veteran to retire.

Dar was awarded ICC Umpire of the Year in three consecutive years between 2009 and 2011, but hasn’t received the accolade since the infamous Broad decision.

Joel Wilson was scrutinised for his umpiring during the recent Ashes series in England, and rightfully so — however, Dar’s Boxing Day howler will go down as the worst umpiring decision of 2019.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/crick...r/news-story/cb7a5518fe5a08123af6594272268e87

 

[Boi]

PCB needs to give Aleem Dar some decent post asap so that he can retire from umpiring. The guy is ruining his legacy. Was an excellent umpire once upon a time but age has caught up with him now.

 

[Titan24]

Dar has been making horrendous decisions for a while now.

Age catching up.

Yes it was. Aleem Dar has been on the decline for a few years now. He’s become the new Bucknor.

PCB needs to give Aleem Dar some decent post asap so that he can retire from umpiring. The guy is ruining his legacy. Was an excellent umpire once upon a time but age has caught up with him now.

Considering how poor some other international umpires in the circuit are i think Aleem is still one of the better ones. Joe Wilson, Michael Gough, Nigel Llong, Chris Gaffaney etc. Just to give examples of what ICC has to offer.

 

[Gilly]

Considering how poor some other international umpires in the circuit are i think Aleem is still one of the better ones. Joe Wilson, Michael Gough, Nigel Llong, Chris Gaffaney etc. Just to give examples of what ICC has to offer.

Dar was very good, one of the best ever but his time has gone. Now he is just destroying his reputation.

 

[MenInG]

What Ricky Ponting labelled an "unacceptable" mistake from third umpire Aleem Dar should not stop Australia's exasperated players and captain accepting the Decision Review System will never be perfect, the Test legend says.

Dar's controversial call not to give Mitchell Santner his marching orders on day three of the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand compounded the hosts' simmering frustration with the review process, despite their dominance of the series.

Australia began celebrating Santner's wicket when they reviewed a catch to leg gully, originally deemed not out by on-field official Marais Erasmus, and replays appeared to show Mitchell Starc's bouncer grazing the sweatband on the batsman's glove.

But Dar left captain Tim Paine and his men in disbelief when he ruled there was insufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision.

"That was a mistake from the third umpire, simple as that," Ponting told cricket.com.au. "I don't know if he rushed it a bit or didn't get enough angles that he needed.

"You could see the sweatband on the glove moving quite considerably. I'm sure they'll find a way to justify it somehow. They'll say it was inconclusive.

"But it wasn't inconclusive to me and anyone who watched those replays would say it was very conclusive, and would say there was enough evidence to overturn the decision.

"Aleem has been one of the leading umpires in the world for a long period of time, you would have thought they would look at every possible angle. That's their job.

"The umpire's job is to ask for every last bit of assistance that he can get to make the right decision and I just don't think he took enough time to do that today.

"We talk a lot about DRS and ball tracking … but when it becomes a human error, that's when it's unacceptable. That's nothing to do with the system, that's just a bad umpiring decision."

But Ponting stressed the system will never achieve 100 per cent accuracy.

Paine expressed doubt over the DRS on Saturday following a pair of decisions that went against his side and cost him a chance at scoring a maiden Test century, telling ABC Radio that he believes ball-tracking technology "is sometimes a little bit off the mark".

The skipper shook his head as he walked off after initially being given not out following an lbw appeal against Neil Wagner, yet was then forced to exit when New Zealand reviewed successfully.

Paine's frustration increased when Black Caps batter Ross Taylor was given out on field but then spared as predictive ball-tracking technology suggested James Pattinson's delivery would have gone over the stumps.

"If we're looking for perfection with the DRS, we're never going to get it," he continued.

"It's easy for me to say now because I'm not a player, but the players need to understand that the whole idea of the DRS was to take out the really bad decision, the real howler – not to make judgments on little millimetres here or there.

"Until players accept it that way, they'll always have a chip on their shoulder or a grudge on the system."

As it stands, some reviews require the television umpire to make a judgment.

Deciding whether a catch or lbw review has hit part of the bat, like in the Santner incident, is often the most contentious and difficult to interpret with certainty.

The benefit of the doubt goes to the on-field umpire; unless there is conclusive evidence to overturn the original decision, their call stands.

But other reviews, like the two lbws that did not go Australia's way, are dependent on the technology used (and paid for) by the television broadcasters.

Cameras track the path of the ball frame-by-frame, a human analyst decides which frame saw the point of impact on a batter's body, then technology predicts where the ball would have gone had its journey not been interrupted and, crucially, if the ball would have then hit the stumps.

Sometimes, Ponting points out, that technology surprises the human eye – like when Paine felt certain he'd been struck outside the line of off stump by the Neil Wagner delivery from around the wicket that dismissed him.

"As far as the ball tracking is concerned, the players have just got to understand that what they sometimes think and feel about what we've learnt about the game over the years (might be wrong)," said Ponting.

"You heard Tim Paine talking this morning about the angle (Wagner) created, he felt he would have had to be outside the line.

"I think it was actually showing that he wasn't outside the line. You just feel as a player (sometimes), 'it must have hit me outside the line'.

"With Ross Taylor's one, Painey felt like that had to be out. If you look at it, it struck him clearly above the knee roll and everything we've always learnt and been told about umpiring is that if you get hit above the knee roll … it's going to go over the stumps."

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/ric...st-australia-new-zealand-tim-paine/2019-12-28

 

[Saj]

Shocker from Aleem.

A few in the media jumping on him, but silent when 'one of their own' regularly make errors.

 

[AMSS]

Far from surpassing his own shocker against ABDV who knicked to Sachin in the slips. Thought he was representing Pakistan lmao

 

[Saj]

A few hundred more glaring errors and Dar will be on a par with S Ravi

 

[Hitman]

Far from surpassing his own shocker against ABDV who knicked to Sachin in the slips. Thought he was representing Pakistan lmao

Quite possibly the worst decision I have ever seen.