If anyone doesn't appreciate the value of official umpires then play a game without them and see what happens. Love them or hate them, neutral umpires are the integrity of the sport and long gone are the days when captains carried that responsibility. In the cold calculating world of modern cricket it is dog eat dog most of the time, and that means many teams will do anything they can to win, including wiping the eye of the poor old umpire!
How farcical to call foul when the umpire makes a genuine mistake after you've spent the best part of the afternoon trying to con him with incessant appeals and at times blatant gamesmanship.
The umpire is everything in cricket, and his authority and integrity is beyond reproach, even when an error has been made. All umpires know the laws better than most of the players and they attempt to apply them fairly, but everyone makes mistakes. Look at last year's World Cup final for evidence of genuine human error from the supposed best in the business.
Every umpire is fallible but decisions whether good or bad, are integral parts of every cricket. In the course of a season perhaps they even themselves out, but even if they don't, they have to be accepted as part of the fabric of the game or anarchy rules.
Losers often blame umpires when their own mistakes are brushed under the carpet. Everyone remembers the 'bad' decision but how many players acknowledge the good decision? Yes, it is part of the game to appeal, but incessant appeals are intimidatory and calculating, and have no place in a game played in the right spirit.
It's no secret that umpires are leaving the local game and it's getting more and more difficult to recruit new white coats. A big part of the problem lies with the modern players who fail to respect the true value of an umpire and his role within the game. Of course there have been bad decisions and biased decisions down the years, but they have been part and parcel of cricket for a long time. What has never been part and parcel of cricket is the lack of respect and unless it is brought back into place, local cricket will self-destruct.
That should not be allowed to happen.
Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg!
