Steve Bucknor, the retired ICC umpire, has recalled two instances from his career where he judged wrongly against India’s Sachin Tendulkar, and admitted that such mistakes lived with umpires and their “future could be jeopardised”.
Bucknor, who held the record for officiating the most Tests – 128 – before being overtaken by Aleem Dar last year, retired from the profession in 2009, ending a 20-year-long career at the international level.
Despite a fine career on the whole, Bucknor drew criticism, primarily from the Indian fans, for his umpiring slip-ups. That it came in the controversy-ridden India-Australia series in 2007/08 didn’t help matters.
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Speaking on the Mason and Guests radio programme last week, the 74-year-old Bucknor admitted that he had mistakenly gave Tendulkar out on at least two occasions, during the 2003 Brisbane Test against Australia, and the 2005 Kolkata Test against Pakistan, saying that he was “unhappy” at his faulty decisions.
“I do not think any umpire would want to do a wrong thing. It lives with him and his future could be jeopardised,” Bucknor said on the programme, as quoted by IANS. “To err is human … Once in Australia, I gave him [Tendulkar] out leg before wicket, and the ball was going over the top. Another time, in India it was caught behind. The ball deviated after passing the bat but there was no touch.
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“But the match was at Eden Gardens and when you are at the Eden and India is batting, you hear nothing. Because 100,000 spectators are making noise.
“Those were the mistakes and I was unhappy. I am saying a human is going to make mistakes, and accepting mistakes is part of life.”
