Umpires in Oz

Billy Bowden has been accused of being overawed by the Australians in the past and of being too easily convinced by their appeals. It looks like those accusations might pop up again. Billy is not the only umpire guilty of this and it does seem incredible how many poor decisions go in the Australians favour when they play at home.

I am not sure whether the decision-making is affected as much by the level of appealing (although the Aussies do appeal an awful lot and always with supreme confidence), or by the flow of a game or series. It seems to me that the side on top always gets decisions in their favour, and perhaps the Australians just get more decisions in their favour because they are on top more than most. The recent Ashes series is an example of one series where Australia has been on the recieving end of bad umpiring, and that was when the English side was in the ascendance.