Can you judge a competition with one closed eye? Well, that is what Iain McDonald and Ryan Milne would be feeling while fielding from on ground during the Scotland vs Australia T20I series. This is simply because there’s no third umpire to go to in the entire series, currently being played in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.
No third-umpire in SCO vs AUS!
The lack of the third-umpire is leaving a sour taste in the mouth of fans, not just in Scotland, but all over the globe. The absence of a third umpire in the series, a fixture involving a Test-playing nation, is a glaring oversight.
Fraser-McGurk saved due to no 3rd ump!
The lack of a third umpire became acutely apparent early in the second T20I when a potential stumping of Jake Fraser-McGurk went unnoticed. Brandon McMullen’s delivery appeared to have missed the inside edge and landed in the wicketkeeper’s gloves. Charlie Tear, the wicketkeeper, reacted swiftly to dislodge the bails, but without a third umpire’s review, the appeal was turned down. While McGurk couldn’t capitalise on this and was dismissed at 16, the story shows this as an ignorance from ICC’s end.
Talking about the second T20I, it was Josh Inglis, who hammered a fabulous century, the fastest for Australia in 43 balls. Due to his blazing knock, the ODI World Champions racked up 196/4 in the first innings before Marcus Stoinis’ 4-fer restricted the hosts to just 126.
