da poker： England v Zimbabwe, 2nd Test, Riverside, Day 2 “We feel like we’re playing 13 men out there.” Comments to this effecthave come from various Zimbabwean players at various times over theyears, and no doubt are being made with more fury than ever
Zimbabwe Verdict by John Ward06-Jun-2003England v Zimbabwe, 2nd Test, Riverside, Day 2
“We feel like we’re playing 13 men out there.” Comments to this effecthave come from various Zimbabwean players at various times over theyears, and no doubt are being made with more fury than ever after theumpires struck yet again during the second day’s play against Englandat Riverside.Mark Vermeulen was denied the benefit of the doubt by Darrell Hair to aball that may have clipped the bails or cleared the stumps. DionEbrahim was fired out by Zimbabwe’s old enemy David Orchard afteredging the ball into his pads. These two unfortunate decisions startedZimbabwe’s slide and effectively destroyed this Test match as acontest.Stuart Carlisle fell to a more straightforward decision the ball afterVermeulen, and there were visions of history almost repeating itself.Nearly four years ago Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka took a hat-trick againstZimbabwe in Harare with his first three deliveries of the match. ButGrant Flower watched the hat-trick ball sail past his off stump.Heath Streak was foolish to pad up to Richard Johnson outside his offstump later on in Zimbabwe’s abbreviated first innings. He should haveknown that Hair isn’t a great one for the benefit of the doubt, and isfamous for firing out batsmen who don’t play a stroke. A wiseZimbabwean policy would have been “Keep your pads away from theball at all costs”. If Hair was to blame for trusting in uninspiredguesswork, Streak’s shouldering of arms was bordered on insanity.The only surer way to get out would have been to kick his stumps over.The psychological effect on a ridiculously inexperienced Zimbabweteam was shattering. They played badly, England played well; even ifthe umpires had got everything right, Zimbabwe would probably havestruggled. But the lack of fight by many players after those earlydisasters was very disturbing, even given the inexperience of the team.The magnificently gritty Tatenda Taibu and Raymond Price can safelybe excluded from this condemnation, while Douglas Hondo did hisbest.Napoleon said that God is always on the side of the big battalions. Heactually meant umpires. By the time the score was 11, Zimbabwe hadonly Grant Flower of their specialist batsmen left, the others all havingdeparted to lbw decisions … one good, one bad, one borderline. It ishard enough for Zimbabwe to compete in Test cricket today at the bestof times – but at Riverside, two of the supposedly best umpires in theworld made it impossible.Over the years the TV replays do seems to confirm that Zimbabwe getmore bad decisions against them than they get themselves. Why?Perhaps there is a subtle psychology in this. Against a team perceivedas weak, perhaps an umpire is subconsciously more inclined to expecta batsman to be dismissed than against a stronger side. In the sameway, it is often felt that a tailender is more likely to suffer a roughdecision than a top batsman. I’ve done a bit of umpiring in my time, andcan relate to this feeling to an extent – and if anyone doubts it, perhapsthey can come up with a better explanation. For so often Zimbabwe doindeed seem to be playing 13 men when they take the field. Don’t forgetthat the biggest blow in the Lord’s Test was the reprieve of a plumb-lbwMark Butcher 100 runs before his eventual dismissal. By DavidOrchard. Click here for today’s Wisden Verdict