Umpire Steve Bucknor Unplugged
Mon, Mar 14, '05
When ICC elite umpire Steve Bucknor walks out on to the field in Kolkata, India, on March 16, 2005, he will become the first umpire ever in the history of international cricket to stand in 100 Tests. To call him our own makes West Indians around the region extremely proud. With his trademark lengthy deliberation before quickly lifting the finger, the Jamaican has recently come under scrutiny for some questionable decisions.
Undaunted, Bucknor soldiers on, always striving to learn from his experiences and maintain the high standards for which he has become known.
What have been the highlights of his eighteen year career? Is he near to retirement? Should the television be used more to assist umpires and remove uncertainty? Are West Indies players different today than when he first started? Under a shady tree at Chedwin Park in Jamaica during the Carib Beer match against Barbados, the soon-to-be 'centurion' reflects on his career thus far, and talks about the one thing he wishes for.
MM: You're heading to India shortly to officiate in your 100th Test match, the only international umpire so far to be doing so. What have been the highlights of your career so far?
SB: To date, doing four World Cup finals has been my highlight, not necessarily a Test match. My highlight has been the World Cup finals that I have done in succession.
Describe the transformation of the game, as you have watched it unfold since 1987.
Because of television, there have been many more controversial decisions seen, not that these decisions were not given before, but they are now controversial because television has shown up the umpires to be making more bad decisions, even though these decisions were being made all along.
So television has done a lot to improve the viewership of the game but it has also helped the umpires in seeing themselves as what they are, and in improving on their performance. Generally it's a good thing.
Would you say that that is the most significant development in relation to umpiring that has taken place over the years?
Yes, without doubt.
Recently, you have been involved in a few controversial umpiring decisions, one most notably involving Sachin Tendulkar. How do you feel when you watch the replay of a dismissal and realize that you've indeed got it wrong?
I take it as just another mistake and move on from there.
Do you then go back to the drawing board and analyze why you might have made this mistake at the time?
Yes, certainly. At the end of each day's play, I'll assess myself, not necessarily to give myself marks, but to say what were the good points, what were the bad points, where can you improve and how can you umpire at even a higher standard.
And of course you get rated by the captains as well, don't you?
Yes, the captains report on the umpires, the match referee reports on the umpires and there is also an independent viewer who sees every Test match, every ball bowled, and he reports on the umpires as well.
Does the ICC, your boss, give you a review as well? Or do you know that you're doing a good job by the amount of Test matches that you're awarded?
Well that is one way in saying that you're doing Ok, but there is always a review. Every year you're told what you've done, but each game you know exactly what you've done by way of decision-making, how many good decisions, how many bad decisions and how the captains feel about your play, the umpires and everybody else.
Umpires are now helped by the third umpire for calling no-balls, as we saw in the ICC Champions Trophy, and for adjudicating on run outs. Is there any other ways that umpires would want the benefit of television replays?
Let me correct you. Umpires are not assisted in no-balls. It was experimented on in the ICC tournament. No decision has been taken on that. There are umpires who believe that snick behind, the one that goes to the 'keeper, that they think it is good for assistance and there is another where the ball goes off the bat, on to the pad, big LBW appeal and the umpire is unable to make a decision...well he can make a decision but he sometimes is uncertain if the ball hit the bat, or he makes a mistake by giving it out when everybody, many millions inside their living rooms and wherever else, see the umpires making a mistake. So there are a few areas where umpires on a whole would want assistance from the third umpire, that is the television umpire.
At the moment, you do up to 10 Test matches per year. How do you handle the workload?
I have told myself that I work abroad and I come home on vacation, so I can't think about coming to Jamaica and working. So it's work, holiday, work, holiday and I'm happy that I'm working; very very grateful, so I don't mind going to work because I don't think I have too long left in the game. Therefore as much as I can do now, I'll do and I'll do it happily.
What do you think of the standard of umpiring at the regional level?
The past few years, I can't tell you. I've not seen many games in the past few years. But for the ones that I have seen, I think that the umpiring at the regional level is pretty good. It's just that the umpires do not get enough games to do, which can't help them. One game per season cannot tell you how good an umpire he is. He has to be doing many games where his stamina is really tested to see how well he works in different conditions.
Some umpires may get the better pitches to umpire on. The better pitches would naturally mean less decisions to make, less controversy. The pitches that will turn much, that will bounce a lot, then it is more difficult to umpire on those pitches, so some umpires have had it a little bit easier than others and by getting more games, then the umpires would be umpiring over a wider cross section of pitches, and of players and his true mettle would be seen that time.
Are there going to be many opportunities for other West Indian umpires to get on the International Panel. We've seen Billy Doctrove doing One Day matches. Eddie Nichols too I believe?
No, Eddie Nichols has not gotten a game since the Elite Panel started. Billy Doctrove has gotten One Day games and now he's in South Africa doing two Test matches, his first under the new system. But the opportunities are going to be there, providing the ICC thinks that they have the right umpire to experiment with, to promote.
How do you get to be able to be seen by them?
First, there is a recommendation from your home association for that panel and then the ICC will use you where they see fit and most times the ICC will start you off with One Day Internationals and from the ODIs then you may get Test matches, as is happening now.
Are you on the panel now for the regional association?
I was on the panel for the regional association but for many years I've not been given games so I was taken off the panel for maybe a younger umpire who would need this cricket more than myself because if I am on the panel and I'm not being given games inside the region then they thought it best not to keep me there and I am in full agreement with them in taking me off for that reason.
You've recently reported receiving a death threat during the Test match in South Africa. The Indian people are very passionate about their cricket. Any concerns in going to India?
No, no, no. I will work wherever I'm sent. I have no problems with that.
But have you taken any extra precautions after you reported it?
No, I didn't report it. I was told that a threat was made. I didn't know about it. It wasn't made to me. It was phoned into the CEO who told us afterwards. Naturally, I think about it, but I won't worry myself too much about this. I go where I am told. I work wherever and I am not going to be sitting home because people outside there have different ideas or thoughts about me.
You mentioned one of the highlights being officiating in four World Cup finals. Planning to do a fifth? Hoping to do a fifth?
I would love to get to the next World Cup. That is my ambition right now, getting to the next World Cup, and I would say that's my ambition because there is no certainty in anything and my two year contract would end next year March. Whether or not ICC will renew my contract for another year to go into the World Cup, that is up to them but I won't take it for granted that I'll go. I hope I will go; I believe they'll want to send me, but I will never take anything for granted.
And if you get there, will that be your swan song? Is that where you'll say good bye?
No, I won't say that. It all depends on what the body is saying to me. If the body is saying go on some more, if I'm making good decisions, if the ICC is happy, then I'll go on a bit longer but this is the World Cup that I would love to get to. And getting to a sixth World Cup, well I would never think about this, but getting to World Cup number five, that's really where I would love to go and from there, I take it maybe a day at a time, a week at a time, or as I see it fit.
The West Indies players and their employers are involved in a brouhaha. Have you seen or noticed a change in the behaviour in cricketers over the years, compared with when you first started umpiring to now?
Yes, certainly. Players today are better paid and it is my opinion that the players today are not as professional as when I started. When I started, players were getting a little bit, but they were happy to play for their country.
Now the impression given is that the money is the most important and how they play is not so important. People before wanted to win; they did everything to win and they'll go out there and they'll fight tooth and nail to win. Today, the pay cheque seems to be the most important thing, which is a real pity because these guys are given so much money to take care of themselves that in times gone by, nobody would even think about that.
It is not a matter of performance today, it's a matter of how much I'm getting and it's a real pity.
