Botham criticises Aust, umpires

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 21

Botham criticises Aust, umpires

NZPA-Reuter London The English cricket allrounder. lan Botham, has blamed his country’s loss of the Ashes on the low standard of Australian umpiring. In an article in the “London Sun.” Botham said although he hated moaning after being beaten, the umpiring was not up to scratch. "In fact it was so bad at times you felt we had to get 14 of their wickets and they only had to get 10 of ours.” Botham’s attack followed Australia’s clinching of the Ashes with a draw in the fifth test.

“There were two bad decisions in this test and if you look at the scores, they probably cost us the match,” said Botham.

“John Dyson was run out in Australia’s first innings before he had faced a ball and Kim Hughes was caught when he had 17 in the second innings.” The England vice-captain. David Gower, gave guarded support to Botham, pointing to the same two fifth test incidents. ‘lf you put those two decisions together, Australia scored nearly 200 runs they should not have been allowed,” he said. However, he added the Australians deserved their success despite the umpiring complaints. “The Australians had more depth and choice in their bowling armoury,” Gower said.