Ranking 5 worst umpires in cricket history
Few umpires have made habitual howlers or made dubious calls during their career.
1. Steve Bucknor
Finally, it’s time to address the elephant in the room. Steve Bucknor — the smiling assassin. If giving howlers is an art, then Steve Bucknor is its Picasso.
Ask Nasser Hussain, Keith Arthurton, Ashwell Prince, Rahul Dravid or maybe forget all of them, and just ask any Indian fan and he will not stop before telling you every wrong decision that the mighty Bucknor gave against the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.
Any Indian fan will tell you about the Brisbane 2003 shocker when Bucknor felt the game was in Chennai or any others low bounce wicket of the sub-contingent and decided not to consider it while adjudging Tendulkar LBW off Jason Gillespie or the plethora of wrong calls he made during that infamous Sydney Test of 2008.
He didn’t hear the outside edge off Andrew Symonds bat but he clearly did when there wasn’t one at the expense of Rahul Dravid. In fact, the situation had escalated to such an extent that famous umpire Dickie Bird also felt “he had gone on too long.” Bucknor, who officiated in a record 128 matches was relieved of his duties thereafter.
Bucknor’s horror decision-making did benefit India during their 2007 Test series in England though when he adjudged Sreesanth not-out off Monty Panesar in the closing stages of the first Test when it was quite clear that the ball would have nailed the stumps. India escaped with a draw before proceeding to win the next match in Nottingham to eventually win the series 1-0. Guess, he made amends for that to the hilt a few months later in Sydney.
Honourable Mentions: Asad Rauf, Shakoor Rana, Rudi Koertzon, Kandiah Francis, Joel Wilson, Daryl Harper, Mark Benson
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