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No matter
how hard they tried England just could not avoid a row over umpiring on
their tour to Pakistan.
England's last tour to the country 13 years was blighted by poor umpiring
and culminated in the bust up between Mike Gatting and Shakoor Rana in the
2nd Test in Faisalabad.
Which is why it has come as no surprise that Nasser Hussain and his team
have so far refused to comment on umpiring decisions on this trip, but on
the third day of the tour match against the Governor's XI in Peshawar the
dam finally burst.
Umpire Sajjad Azghar turned down a catch behind off batsman Akhtar Sarfraz,
who was on 46, and the decision clearly upset bowler Andy Caddick.
The umpire claimed that Caddick had words with him and insulted his
country, but backtracked later when quizzed by match referee Farrukh Zaman.
"He said something about my country," Azghar told reporters at
the close of play. "I'm not tolerating that. I don't want to repeat
what he said because it would cause problems for him in other parts of the
country."
After the incident the umpire was seen talking to Hussain who he later
claimed told him to mind his own business. Hussain denies insulting the
umpire.
Referee Zaman later revealed that the umpire had not made an official
complaint, he said: "I have had no official complaint from the umpire
and therefore I have no official complaint with the player. I will have a
word with them (England) to cool it down."
The England bowlers had endured a difficult afternoon with the Governor's
XI recovering from 13-3 to close on 115-4, with Sarfraz unbeaten on 53.
Coach Duncan Fletcher said: "It was simply a case that a player was
showing a bit of passion for his game and playing for England. There was a
bit of sledging and that was it."
The umpiring, on the whole, has been consistent in the fact that it has
been poor for both teams. Hussain was given out leg before to a ball that
seemed to pitch outside leg stump in the 1st innings, but the umpires
later turned down stronger appeals from the Governor's XI bowlers. |
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