Aust, to discuss umpiring panel

Press, 19 April 1989, Page 35

Aust, to discuss umpiring panel

NZPA-AAP Melbourne The Australian Cricket Board (A.C.8.) will consider whether to support the introduction of an international panel of umpires after the New Zealand Cricket Council (N.Z.C.C.) [ decided on Monday to approve the plan. The A.C.B. chief executive, David Richards, said the issue would be discussed at the board’s meeting next week, but said the A.C.B. was still considering its stance. “We haven’t been persuaded so far that an international panel of umpires will provide benefits greater than the costs,” Mr Richards said. “Our belief is that all umpires are Impartial,” he said. The N.Z.C.C. chief executive, Graham Dowling, said the change of opinion coincided with Pakistan’s forthright criticism of the quality of New Zealand’s umpires during the ' test series earlier this year. “We’d previously been reluctant, because we didn’t want to cause ripples with our own umpires, but we’ve discussed it fully with them, and they agree to the principle,” Mr ' Dowling said. Mr Dowling and the N.Z.C.C. chairman, Barry Paterson, ‘ will support the establishment of an international panel, / with two umpires from each of the seven test-playing countries, when they go to the I.C.C. annual meeting in London on July 10-13. Mr Richards said the A.C.B. had to consider whether host countries should appoint umpires as they do now, or the two alternatives an eight-man I.C.C. committee was reviewing. Mr Richards said the A.C.B. had to consider whether host ‘ countries should appoint umpires as they do now, or the two alternatives an eight-man I.C.C. committee was reviewing.