Zondo fumes as One-day Cup final is ‘ruined’ by poor umpiring

Dolphins captain Khaya Zondo on Sunday left no doubt that he and his team believe they were shafted by the umpires in the Momentum One-day Cup final which they lost by 135 runs to the Titans at Centurion.

The Titans top-three all survived extremely close lbw shouts as they set about laying the platform for the Aiden Markram century that took the home side to an imposing 356 for five after they had been sent in to bat.

The faltering Dolphins chase then suffered terminal blows when Zondo himself was given out lbw for one when he inside-edged the ball, Andile Phehlukwayo’s threatening innings of 43 and his partnership of 92 with Dane Vilas was ended when he suffered the same fate, and Sibonelo Makhanya was then adjudged to be run out by the TV umpire despite the wicketkeeper disturbing the stumps before the direct hit.

“There were 22 very good cricketers out there, but I think the umpires ruined the final for us. Against good teams, you’ve got to get their top-order batsmen out early and you can’t afford to have to get them out twice each, especially if three of your batsmen are then given out when they shouldn’t have been out. I don’t mind losing but it’s about how you lose.

“Their batsmen played the situation well, but if two of those decisions had gone our way then they would have been under pressure and who knows what would have happened. In our innings, the Titans don’t really have a fifth bowler but with Dean Elgar and Markram being able to bowl to the tail, it worked out for them. Basically we had six bad decisions against us,” Zondo said after the game.

Titans captain Elgar agreed that it was a pity that a much-hyped game like a final was marred by the poor umpiring of Shaun George, Adrian Holdstock and Bongani Jele.

“The umpiring has been great until the final, we’ve never had a bad game this season, so it’s just unfortunate that it happened in the final. But the umpires are not machines, they are allowed to make mistakes as well, although it’s a bit disappointing they didn’t have their best game in the final, but that’s cricket,” Elgar said.

Titans coach Mark Boucher added that he believed the same video review system used in internationals should be utilised in domestic finals.

“I would recommend using technology in these big games just to eliminate the mistakes. It’s difficult for me to comment because I could get in trouble, but the umpires did not have a good game. But I don’t think it detracts from our victory because the Dolphins would still have needed a couple of very special knocks to chase more than 350,” Boucher said.

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