Showing posts with label Umpire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Umpire. Show all posts

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Kumar Dharmasena, Umpire

email from JKS Weerasekera

Final between West Indies and England. 20/20.
 I watched  the incident. Given out caught behind wicket Marlon Samuel
walked off without any expression. Credit to him.
Dharmasena too was very diplomatic not reflecting his views facially.
Umpire too was calm in appearance.
Yes that decided the result.
 Next day newspapers  here showed Samuels in a bad light, putting his feet
up on a table or so- after he asked the reporters "do you mind?"
 Went on to lambast him about his tiff with Shane Warne in the papers.
Shame. 
No wonder even our lay watchers rooted for West Indies. 
jksw

Subject: FW: Umpire Tucker from Australia
________________________________________
From: Mahen Weerasinghe [mahe@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Thursday, 7 April 2016 9:04 p.m.
To: Mahen Weerasinghe
Subject: FW: Umpire Tucker from Australia

From:
Subject: FW: Umpire Tucker from Australia

Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2016 08:20:19 +0800
Subject: Umpire Tucker from Australia
From: kpm
To: kpm

How Dharmasena saved the day for West Indies

April 5, 2016, 9:25 pm

 article_image
<http://www.island.lk/modules/modPublication/article_title_images/1432792688
kumara.jpg>

On Sunday, the West Indies stunned the cricketing world with their come from
behind victory against England in the finals of the ICC World T-20 at Eden
Gardens in Calcutta . Barbadian Carlos Brathwaite and Jamaican Marlon
Samuels were the stars in West Indies ' win.

However, victory wouldn't have been possible for West Indies if not for Sri
Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena.

West Indies had made dreadful start losing three wickets for just 11 runs
and the game looked well beyond their reach when Samuels was given out
caught behind by umpire Rod Tucker. Samuels walked off with the scoreboard
reading 37 for four. However, Dharmasena the leg-umpire was suspicious given
the way wicketkeeper Josh Buttler had collected the catch.

Dharmasena, a member of Sri Lanka 's 1996 World Cup winning team, had
encouraged umpire Tucker to verify the catch, but Tucker had responded that
he was positive that the catch was clean. As Dharmasena kept on insisting,
third umpire Marias Erasmus too asked whether Tucker was absolutely sure.
That made Tucker to ask for television assistance. Television replays then
clearly showed that the ball had bounced before the catch was taken and
Samuels was called back.

Samuels went onto smash an unbeaten 85 and was named Man of the Match.

Later, after the game, Dharmasena had come for high praise from ICC.

Dharmasena, nicknamed 'unanduwa' by former captain Arjuna Ranatunga for his
untiring efforts takes his job very seriously and has been highly regarded
at the ICC.

Dharmasena, a banker by profession, is employed at Hatton National Bank,
with whom he began his career 26 years ago.

After retiring from First Class cricket, Dharmasena tried his hand in both
coaching and umpiring. Despite having Level 3 coaching certificate, he soon
realized that coaching will not take him much far in the game. Then he opted
to concentrate on umpiring, but received little support.

However, Dharmsena kept persevering. Despite efforts by then President of
Board Arjuna Ranatunga to fast track Dharmasena as an international umpire,
the opportunities he got at the top level were few and rare.

Then former captain Sanath Jayasuriya introduced him to those running the
Indian Premier League (IPL) and there Dharmasena got constant exposure.

Soon there were international recognition as well for Dharmasena and he was
drafted into the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires. In the year 2012, Dharmasena
turned a corner as the ICC named him Umpire of the Year.

Today he is one of the finest umpires in the world and gets invited from
places like Australia and England to give lectures on umpiring.

Apart from officiating in the recent World T-20 final, Dharmasena also
officiated the final of the ICC World Cup last year between Australia and
New Zealand at the MCG.