Pakistan lodges complaint over poor umpiring decisions

Lahore: Pakistan has formally lodged a complaint over poor umpiring decisions in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle, at a time when the International Cricket Council executive board has decided against making the Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS) compulsory in all Tests.

Clearly buckling under pressure from the Indian cricket board`s strong opposition to the UDRS, the ICC board today decided to stick with the current system of allowing boards to decide themselves on having the UDRS in a bilateral series. Presently Sri Lanka being the home board has not implemented the UDRS in the series against Pakistan although when Pakistan hosted the Lankans last year in the UAE they had enforced the UDRS technology with the help of sponsors. "Pakistan team manager Naved Cheema and coach Dav Whatore formally lodged a complaint over the umpiring with match referee David Boon after the Test ended," a source close to the Pakistan team said. England`s Ian Gould and Australian Steve Davis were guilty of giving at least 10 to 12 contentious decisions in the Galle Test most of which went against Pakistan who were outclassed in the match. "Cheema and Whatmore told Boon that the Pakistani players had concerns over the umpiring standards as while one or two bad decisions were acceptable but the majority of bad decisions went against them in the Test," the source said. The source said the team management had also sent its report on the umpiring to the ICC as per regulations after the match. Pakistan`s former Test captain Rashid Latif said he was surprised at India`s continuing opposition to the UDRS technology. "It is not perfect everyone knows that. Technology is never 100 per cent correct but it has definitely brought up an improvement in umpiring standards and reduced errors in matches which it is being used," Latif said. "What surprises me is the ICC`s continuing unclear stance on the compulsory use of the UDRS. This is damaging for the sport and we are seeing the effects in the series with Sri Lanka. The Lankans had the system in place for their series against England but not for Pakistan that is why it is necessary to make the use of UDRS mandatory for all matches and ICC should financially subsidize costs," he said. He said the number of bad decisions that went against Pakistan in Galle were ridiculous and cost them the match. PTI