World Cup Final: Poor umpiring raises questions at ENG-NZ clash

Mumbai: Poor umpiring calls were one of the main highlights of the first innings in the 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s, London. At least three instances of Umpires taking wrong calls, later corrected by video reviews were observed during the first innings.

The officials chosen for the most important cricket game of 2019 were Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus.

The first instance of poor umpiring was observed when Henry Nicholls was given out by leg before wicket in the third over. However a review proved Kumar Dharmasena wrong, as the ball was shown to have not hit the stumps, but gone over them.

The second instance came when Dharmasena declined to acknowledge a nick off Kane Williamson’s bat in the 23rd over. Liam Plunkett, the bowler, took the review almost immediately and got the decision in his favour as Williamson was dismissed.

Yet another wrong call was observed, this time by Marais Erasmus, when Ross Taylor was given out by lbw in the 34th over off Mark Wood. Video replays later showed that the ball would have bounced over the stumps. Unfortunately, New Zealand were out of reviews by that time and Ross Taylor had to return to the Pavilion.

Kumar Dharmasena was also in focus during the semi-final clash between England and Australia after he declared Jason Roy ‘Out’ after a catch, where the ball had not touched Roy’s bat. While England couldn’t review the decision, Roy was fined 30 per cent of his match fee for the arguing he did with the umpires.