What’s all the fuss?
England feel that Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, should have been out for 15 in the first session yesterday morning. Ryan Sidebottom sent down a wide ball that Smith attempted to cut and the fielders felt that he got a thin top edge to help the ball into Matt Prior’s gloves. Tony Hill, the umpire, turned down the appeal, so England referred it to Daryl Harper, right, the third umpire, who found no evidence that leather had kissed willow.
What was the problem, then?
Well, TV replays revealed a distinctive sound at the moment the ball passed the bat and there is little else it could be other than a nick.
Why did Harper not hear anything?
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Who knows? Although don’t forget that the on-field umpire did not hear a sound, either. The broadcaster said that the volume on the third umpire’s television set was turned up to level four (out of ten). There had been an agreement before the series that the volume would be set at maximum to discern any contact.
Could Harper not get help from the Snicko or Hot Spot technology?
No, even though they are being used in the concurrent Test series between Australia and Pakistan. There are only two spare Hot Spot sets in the world and they would cost in the region of £43,000 for a series, which the South African board refused to pay.
Would they have helped?
Hot Spot uses thermal imaging to show any impact in bright white, below right. But it is not wholly reliable if the light is bad. Snicko, which shows soundwaves, would have been better in this instance. With Smith’s bat nowhere near his pads or the ground, the most likely reason for a spike of sound would be if he had hit the ball.
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Why are England so annoyed?
Apart from Smith adding a further 90 runs to his score after his reprieve, they feel that they were deprived one of the two unsuccessful reviews that they are allowed per innings. There is also still a bit of muttering that Harper missed a possible no-ball by Morne Morkel when ruling that Alastair Cook was out on Thursday.
Has Harper got form for making poor decisions?
When TV referrals were given a trial in the Caribbean last winter, he made a few surprising calls from the third umpire’s booth, notably confirming a poor decision by the on-field umpire to give out Shivnarine Chanderpaul leg-before to a ball that seemed to be passing over the stumps by some distance and ruling that Daren Powell had edged a ball that appeared to miss his bat.
Those poor calls aided England, but Stephen Harmison felt that he had been denied a wicket when Harper overruled a decision to dismiss Ramnaresh Sarwan leg-before in Jamaica. Harmison claimed that the umpire, Hill again, had been told by Harper that he was not sure but felt that the ball was going over the stumps. He should have overruled Hill only if he was convinced it was missing.
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How experienced is Harper?
He made his Test debut as an umpire in 1998 and has been an official in 97 Tests — nine as third umpire.
What does he say about his gaffes?
“I’ve never apologised,” he said last year. “I’ve made mistakes but there was nothing deliberate about any errors that I ever made.”
Who has had the luck with referrals this series?
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It has fluctuated. In the first Test, England referred six decisions and failed to get one overturned, while South Africa won three of their nine referrals. Since then, however, South Africa have been lucky with only one more referral, while England got seven decisions overturned in the second and third Tests. Overall, England have won seven referrals out of 21 and South Africa four out of 21.
Words by Patrick Kidd