Englishman Jos Buttler wants the third-umpires to call no-balls

The third Test match between Sri Lanka and England in Colombo is currently underway and it’s a dead rubber for the reason that the Three Lions have already won the series 2-0 with victories in Galle and Pallekele. In the meantime, the umpiring standards in the encounter have come under the scanner. Sundaram Ravi and Chris Gaffaney are the on-field umpires.

During the pre-lunch session of the third day’s play, Lankan Chinaman spinner Lakshan Sandakan bowled as many as 13 no-balls in a six-over spell out of which only a couple were picked. Ben Stokes was dismissed twice and S Ravi failed to pick the no-balls after which replays showed them. Sky Sports looked through their footages and picked up the loopholes.

Umpires have a tough job

Sandakan bowled 16 overs in the innings and picked up two prized wickets of all-rounder Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler, conceding 76 runs. After the revelations, Buttler, England’s limited-overs wicketkeeper-batsman, isn’t satisfied by any stretch of the imagination and he has called for the third umpire to shoulder responsibilities of signalling no-balls.

“I’d like to see the third umpire call them. He could watch TV and then communicate to the on-field umpire. Maybe he could tell him in his ear, or I’ve played in a few games where the on-field umpire had a watch that buzzed,” Buttler was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

“It’s become a common part of the game for no-balls to be checked. If no-balls are being missed and it builds up, that could be a lot of runs that should be going to the batting team. Umpires have a tough job. If they could get a bit of help from their mate in the TV box, no-balls would be one less thing to worry about,” Buttler added.

As far as the final Test is concerned, the Brits are in a commanding position and have every chance of inflicting their opponent with a series whitewash. Previously, the Poms also won the ODI series and the one-off T20I against the Lankans.

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