About time umpires get what they deserved.

Worst thing that could have happened.

What is there to stop South Africa,England or any other nation threatening to walk out of a tour in future if the umpiring is poor against them in a game?

By all means complain about the poor standard of umpiring and say that it needs to be improved,possibly Bucknor is past his best and should retire,i remember Shep making an almighty **** up towards the end of his career in an England v Pakistan game so maybe Bucknor is reaching the end too.

What i don't like is India getting Bucknor pulled from a game just as Pakistan got Hair chased out of cricket.That is not on and sets us down a very dangerous path.

What ? firing someone for incompetence is the worst thing that could have happened ? They are not volunteers, they get paid good money and should be accountable for their actions.

I disagree. Players are dropped for being incompetent so should umpires. It's about time Cricket came out of cuckoo land into the real world.

Umpires have not gone rotton overnight, they are still the dedicated hard working bunch they ever were.

If we are going to sack an umpire every time the ICC dose a U Turn, then we will run out of umpires to blame.

I am not saying Buckner got things right, but then again no umpire ever does - the ICC should have backed their umpires, not sack them.

Who's to blame over the sledging/racism in the second test I don't know, and by now I care even less - but to change how we appoint umpires is a fundimental change to cricket itself - and I for one do not like to see that.

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Ern

This is an alarming trend greg where umpires are not willing to retire untill something very bad happens. The no-balls that Shephard missed (how many? nine?) in that match was so embarrassing. And what Bucknor did now was even worse. It shows clearly that ICC needs to review the rules for retirement of umpires(if any exist).

Just to complain and sit back is certainly not enough. Action must follow.

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My computer can beat me at chess.....but its no match for me at kick boxing.

If they were firing him for good then maybe it would be ok but he will be back next month in another country.What is the point if he isn't good enough for Australia v India?

But he hasn't been fired for his incompetence. The Elite Panel looks after that, with umpires being assessed and if their performance is regularly below standard they are removed. What has happened is India has decided it will throw a tantrum and refuse to play until they get to pick who umpires them and choose which ICC rulings they are willing to abide by. Players are not fired for one poor match either, they are dropped after a number of games not producing performances.

Bit rough on Steve Bucknor. He is one of the best umpires to ever umpire the game. One bad game and his career is on the line. Even Don Bradman had bad tests.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

Quite. Another disgraceful show by the ICC, a la Darrell Hair. Very disappointing indeed.

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

Exactly it's like dropping a player for bad performance against one team and picking him cos next game is against some one else. they should have fired him for good.

If he is not good enough for Ind v/s Aus he is not good enough for Zim v/s Bang either.
I hope other countries oppose his standing in their matches. That will force the ICC to think clearly on how it appoints/ retires umpires.