West Indies’ coach Daren Sammy has been handed a fine after criticising third Umpire Adrian Holdstock during the opening Test against Australia in Barbados. Sammy, after the second day’s play, met with match referee Javagal Srinath and expressed his concerns about what he believed were umpiring misjudgements, which disadvantaged his side immensely.
Sammy’s concerns were rooted in two instances on day two, one of which was a controversial LBW decision, which was given out by Holdstock despite UltraEdge showing some spikes, indicating an inside edge. The second was a catch taken by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey, which seemed to have touched the ground, but the umpire upheld his decision of out, ruling it a clean catch. Chase and Hope were in the middle of recovering West Indies from a collapse orchestrated by the Australian pacers. The pair, until the point Chase departed, had stitched a 67-run partnership.
What added to his frustration was that on the opening day, a somewhat similar catch when an edge off Travis Edge was caught by Hope, was deemed as not carried by the umpire.
Sammy did not hold back from making his feelings public. After the stumps on Thursday, he voiced his agitation that seemed to have been simmering since West Indies’ ODI series in England, where Holdstock was umpiring as well.
“You don’t want to get yourself in a situation where you’re wondering about certain umpires,” Sammy said. “Is there something against this team? But when you see decision after decision, then it raises the question. I know he’s here for the series. You don’t want to go in a Test match having that doubt.”
“I have noticed, especially with this particular umpire, it’s something that for me started in England. It’s frustrating. I just ask for consistency in the decision-making.”
ICC found his remarks to be in breach of Article 2.7 of the governing body’s code of conduct which deals with “public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an international match or any player, player support personnel, match official or team participating in any international match”.
Termed as Level one offense, Sammy has been fined 15% of his match fee as well as one demerit point. Level one offenses usually range from issuing a formal warning to deducting up to 50% of match fee, along with handing a maximum of two demerit points. The demerit points remain in the disciplinary record for 24 months, during which new points can be added.
Match referee Srinath confirmed that Sammy accepted the charges without any protest. The West Indies coach did say, on Thursday, he was aware of what it means to publicly criticise a match official, and its also part of why the rest of the Windies players, barring their captain Roston Chase, did not come out with their grievances.
“We know the rules. We know fines going all across the board,” he said. “I don’t want them [West Indies’ players] to focus on that.”
Holdstock will officiate on-field in the next two Test games, with Nitin Menon and Richard Kettleborough taking the third umpire duties.
