The first match of the Test series between West Indies and Australia is being played at Kensington Oval, Barbados. The game of two days has been completed in this match. A total of 24 wickets have fallen in these two days of play. In this match, Australia scored 180 runs in their first innings. Then the hosts West Indies team reduced to 190 runs in the first innings. On the basis of first innings, West Indies got a lead of 10 runs. After this, the Australian team scored 92 runs for four wickets in their second innings till the second day (26 June).
In this match, there has been a dispute over the decisions given by the third umpire Adrian Holstock (South Africa). Holdstock has given 5 such decisions in this match, which are under suspicion. Four of these decisions were against the West Indies. West Indies head coach Darren Sammy has also become enraged due to controversial decisions. Sammy has criticized Holdstock.
1. The first incident happened in the 46th over of Australia’s first innings. In that over, a ball from Shamar Joseph went into the hands of wicketkeeper Shai Hope with the bat of Travis Head. Then the field umpire went to the Adrian Holdstock to find out whether the catch was correctly caught or not. In the initial replay, it appeared that the ball went directly to the glove with the bat, although nothing was seen clearly when looking with another angle and zoom. The third umpire gave a decision in favor of the batsman by saying that he did not have enough evidence that the ball went straight into the gloves.
2. The next incident happened when the West Indies team was batting. In the 21st over, West Indies captain Roston Chase was completely beat and Australian players appealed to LBW in the 21st over. However, the field umpire ruled the knotout. Australian players believed that the ball was first on the pad, so they decided to take a review. In the replay, it could not be able to get up with the pad before hitting the bat? Adrian Holdstock believed that the ball was on the first bat and the field umpire’s decision remained.
3. Roston Chase finally fell victim to the controversial decision of the third umpire. On the second ball of Pat Cummins in the 50th over, the on-field umpire gave Chase LBW out. Chase immediately took a review. When the ball was passing by the bat, the spike was clearly seen in the ultra age. But the third umpire Edrian Holdstock said that there is a gap between the bat and the ball and the field umpire’s decision remained intact.
4. Shai Hope is having the most controversy on the wicket of Shai Hope in the 58th over of the West Indies innings. In that over, the third ball of Beu Wavester went to wicketkeeper Alex Carrie with Hope’s bat. Carrie had taken the catch, but showed in the replay that the ball was touching the ground at the time of the catch. Despite this, the third umpire called it a clean catch. West Indies coach Darren Sammy was quite desperate with this decision of the third umpire.
5. Then in Australia’s second innings, Cameron Green also survived being dismissed due to a controversial decision by the umpire. In the 25th over, the second ball of Justin Greaves hit Cameron Green’s pad. West Indies players appealed for LBW, but the field umpire gave a knotout. Then the hosts decided to take a review. When the ball seemed to be on the knee of the batsman, the spike was clearly seen in the ultra age, but the third umpire believed that this happened due to the inner edge.
What did Darren Sammy say on controversial decisions?
After the end of the second day’s game, Darren Sammy said, ‘You do not want any umpire to have doubt in mind. But when there are similar mistakes again and again, questions will arise. Is there anything against this team? I know that he is here for the series. Anyway, you will not want to get into the match without trusting the umpires. And our team is not like this. So we want some clarity about decisions. We have left catch and have damaged ourselves due to this. But despite these wrong decisions, we are in a state of victory in this Test match.