A batsman was doing a great job, he had dragged his team from dreadful to a safer position, there was an appeal for caught behind, and the batsman was given out although the ball didn’t touch his bat but the umpire thought otherwise and the batsman had to leave the field.

The above few lines very clearly suggest that Umpire is the most powerful person among all present on the playing area, his one wrong decision could turn the match around, and therefore he should be as precise as he could. There should be a code of conduct for Umpires as it is for the players and if an Umpire does make mistakes repeatedly, than he should be asked for his inaccuracy?

Certain criterion should be set for any person who wants to become an international umpire and periodic refresher courses and medical examinations should be introduced to recognize the worth of a person with the passage of time. Age limit should be there for an international umpire because no doubt age does hamper abilities of a person (especially eyesight and hearing), and who would argue that umpiring needs immaculate skills.

There are some umpires who in my view have crossed their age limits, their vision is not up to the mark so they are making horrible mistakes, not once in a blue moon but repeatedly.

Enough is enough, its time now to pin down one or two names. The name comes to mind which qualifies on what I wrote above is Mr David Shepard of England. Mr Shepard born in 1940 and he is still seen officiating on the cricket field. Everyone would agree that one can lose a considerable amount of abilities at the age of 64, and Mr Shepard has proved it not once but many a times.

Recalling the 2000-01 season when Pakistan was in England, David Shepherd made mistakes on the final day of the second Test at Old Trafford, giving batsmen out on illegal deliveries. Television pictures showed that up to four of the England batsmen were given out on no-balls in the match. His mistakes cost his own country, means he did not do it intentionally. Mr Shepherd however was man enough to accept his mistakes, and pledged to avoid such horrible blunders in the future.

Coming to the recent example, the final of the Videocon Cup between Pakistan and Australia on August 29, 2004 in Holland. Pakistan lost the match due to nothing but poor judgments of the Umpire, and once again the controversy encircled none other but David Shepard. Many people related to Pakistan cricket raised concerns over the issue in fact a high ranking board official had to pay the price for doing so. He was given stern warnings on his remarks against the same umpire. On top of every thing Mr Shepherd did not only admit his mistakes he also apologized to the Pakistani coach.

Let’s talk about the international body which controls cricket affairs including umpires, the International Cricket Council (ICC). In March 2002, to improve the overall standard of umpiring, the Council announced that a selected panel of umpires would be appointed to take charge of matches at international level. Two umpires from the Elite Panel now stand in all Test matches, and at least one member of the Panel officiates in each one-day international. The panel was initially consisting of 12 members, but making the matter worst last year, the council removed three umpires out of the lot (Asoka de Silva, David Orchard and Russel Tiffin). Meanwhile India’s Venkataraghavan announced his retirement. After including few more names to the list, it grew up to just eight, and looking at the packed cricket calendar the number of umpires is obviously not enough. The List includes:

• Brent Bowden (New Zealand)
• Steve Bucknor (West Indies)
• Aleem Dar (Pakistan)
• Darrell Hair (Australia)
• Daryl Harper (Australia)
• Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)
• David Shepherd (England)
• Simon Taufel (Zimbabwe)