Include the umps as well

For someone who has basically disrespected the umpiring fraternity David Warner was happy enough for the Third Umpire to offer him a reprieve for a contentious catch against the Netherlands So when the decision goes in his favour hersquos clearly a fan of using the technology It will be interesting to see if he is censured for trying to influence the umpiremdasha clear breach of protocol He got away with his tantrum after the Sri Lanka game but this time it was even more obvious Itrsquos almost as if the umpires are now scared to incur his wrathOn any level his rant probably doesnrsquot even deserve the dignity of column inches in a newspaper of this pedigree But the temptation to point out the hypocrisy and naivety of his argument is a halfvolley that simply cannot be allowed to sail harmlessly through to the wicketkeeper lest HawkEye suddenly shows it deviating to clip offstumpAlso ReadMuzumdar appointed head coach of Indian womenrsquos teamLack of understanding Itrsquos astonishing that a modern international cricketer still struggles to understand the Umpirersquos Call concept In Warnerrsquos case against Sri Lanka he was given out by Joel Wilson and HawkEye went on to confirm that it was grazing leg stump So the umpire was vindicatedmdashhe judged that the ball would hit the stumps and the technology supported him A ball travelling at that speed would definitely dislodge the bails End of story End of innings Start of tantrumWhen Sadeera Samarawickrama was dismissed in almost identical fashion by an Adam Zampa wrongun a few hours prior Warner was no doubt celebrating Wilsonrsquos precision in giving him out If Wilson had chosen to give both decisions in favour of the batsmen both would have survived Thatrsquos the way Umpirersquos Call works Daveymdashthey havenrsquot suddenly changed the rules just for you The hypocrisy is breathtakingDavidrsquos execution errorWarner alludes to the fact that the umpire made an error of judgement in the first instance by giving him out Fact HawkEye proved that it was not actually an errormdashaccording to the technology the ball was hitting the stumps Same as Samarawickrama If you want to start criticising umpire error begin first by looking in the mirror Had the batsman not made an error of judgement and missed the ball in the first place Wilson would not have had to make a decision So the crucial first error was Warnerrsquosmdashassuming he meant to hit the ball with his bat it was an execution error that brought the umpire into the game Warner will argue that itrsquos a game played by humans and therefore human error is part of the game Of course it is But to exclude umpires from making errors is a nonsense All humans are prone to making mistakes under pressureThat is the beauty of sport Nay it is the very essence and purity of it Anything else would be like playing against a computer or Artificial IntelligenceDoes Warner think that Australian batsmen should be given more benefit of the doubt than Sri Lankans His argument might have carried more weight if he also mentioned the Samarawickrama lbw but to only feel aggrieved at his decision smacks of a sense of entitlement and privilege The tournament is being played in India but favouritism for the colonials is from a bygone era Or maybe there are still echoes of that sense of privilegehelliphas Warner been censured by the ICC Claiming to be frustrated is a pathetic and tired clicheacutemdashno batsman enjoys being given out lbw but some are allowed to use that excuse more often than othersWarner then goes on to suggest that umpiresrsquo performance statistics should be shown on the scoreboard so that we can all see how many decisions they get wrong Apart from being a ridiculously immature suggestion in this instance it would have proven that Wilson was in fact right and the judgement error was the batsmanrsquos Where does this madness end Do we also show how many times a batsman plays and misses That too is an error after all If we are going to put the spotlight on umpire errors letrsquos also put up statistics on how many times each player has referred a decision that was overturned or not upheld That sort of analysis might actually show how difficult it is to make snap judgements at 130 kmh Batsmen and umpires are both entitled to mess up their judgement by a millimetreUmpires are not to blameIf his issue is with the technology itself thatrsquos not necessarily the umpirersquos fault It just smacks of sour grapes when he only complains about it when he thinks he is on the rough end of it Bottom linemdashif you donrsquot want to be lbw hit the ball Be perfect Every time If thatrsquos unrealistic donrsquot hold umpires to a higher standard than you hold yourself The umpires and cameras generally get it right most of the time They even spotted Sandpaper in a pocket