Pakistan call for two neutral umpires

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Shaka

I count among the new breed umpires Aleem Dar, Billy Bowden, Simon Taufel and Steve Bucknor, all of whom are excellent umpires in my view.

You name the same four that I would name, Shaka. Steve Bucknor, though almost a senior citizen nowadays (he turns 60 in 2006) is, for me, the best of the bunch (albeit he has had a hard time of it in the last several months).

[Zainub]

Brett Lee has supported Pakistan's desire of seeing nuetral umpires officiate in one-day games as well. Lee said while he had no doubts about umpires' integrity, he would like to see two neutral umpires in one day matches to counter any accusations of hometown favouritism. "Umpires don't cheat, that is common knowledge," he said. "It would be nice to put those rumours to bed and have neutral umpires in a 50 over match.

Lee also spoke of his chagrin at New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden's theatrical gestures on the field. "Sometimes when you do look around and you've bowled a wide and you see him stretch his arms out like a pelican it is not the most flattering thing," he said. "You want to just go up to him and push his arms back down". Read more here

I'm sure Bowden will not be as amused by hearing these comparisions with pelicans as I am , Lol! Good thing Brett never attempted be a poet or anything! lOL!

[Occasional Fan]

I can't quite bring Billy's "wide" signal to my mind, but I can see in my imagination his ludicrous signals for "four", "six", "drinks" and "time". He's a young man. Eventually he won't have the energy to keep this up for six hours a day and we'll see him moderate the theatrical stuff. Might take about thirty years though. I think Billy is a great umpire, but I would like him to be a bit less visible.

[Zainub]

I've read a lot about how Billy's batteled arthiritis to make it to the highest level, and it is surprising indeed OF considering what I've read that that has so much energy. He really does take his job, both as an entertainer and as an umpire very seriously.

You are spot on about his umpiring though, he's not only a good umpire, but also a very confident one, I like the way he changes his mean and manner as to show he's in charge as soon as something starts to drift towards getting out of control, he's a nice character, has some fun with players too, but when it comes down to the serious stuff he concentrates on his job at hand pretty well. I will not be surprised if he comes out and reacts to these comments from Lee.

[Paoli]

Best umpire is Taufel by far. Shepherd and Bucknor should throw in the towel

[Shaka]

Originally Posted by Shaka

Darryl Hair, Rudi Koertzen and Daryl Harper, I would prefer not to be umpiring in a match involving Pakistan and England/Australia

Make that any match involving Pakistan. I'm starting to wonder if Koertzen and Hair should apply for Pakistani citizenship. They've probably spent more time with the Pakistan camp than the PCB.