Pringle dismissal controversial

Press, 28 January 1988, Page 48

Pringle dismissal controversial

The dismissal of Martin Pringle, the young Auckland batsman who shared a 170-run partnership with Trevor Franklin against Canterbury at Eden Park yesterday, caused more than a little controversy. Pringle had a ball from Michael Holding fly off the edge of his bat to Rod Latham’s right at second slip. Latham did very well to get his hand to it and

was jubilant that he had broken the big thirdwicket stand. While Pringle stayed his ground, the umpire at the bowler’s end, Jim Holland, looked across to his square leg partner, Noel Stoupe, who indicated Latham had taken a fair catch. Mr Stoupe’s opinion was not shared by many of the spectators, and there were

angry cries for Pringle (whose 77 was his best first-class score by one run) to be recalled. “Only about three people on the ground thought that Martin was out, and two of them were umpires,” the Auckland captain, Bill Fowler, said later. The Auckland selection convener, Ross Dykes, said that players were

often critical of umpires — “but this was a case where the players could have helped the umpires.” Canterbury’s coach, Bob Carter, replied that he had spoken to Latham about the incident. Latham was convinced it was a fair catch. There, because of an absence of television replays, the controversy dies.