Still a student of the game

The century Test for Steve Bucknor at Eden Gardens this March in the ongoing India-Pakistan series may not be remembered for all the correct decisions. But the lanky West Indian nevertheless stands tall among his equals with his impressive career behind the stumps. TWF correspondent B Arindham talks to the man of many controversies.

He stood his 100th Test at Eden Gardens to become the first Test Umpire to attain a rare milestone and back home he is planning a football academy in Jamaica. At over six feet Steve Bucknor is quite an imposing figure when he stands behind the stumps and has a history of incidents involving Team India in particular.

At the hotel lobby in Kolkata, Steve sounded typically West Indian in his mannerisms and spirits---languid, easy going and often animated in his gestures. Accompanied by his wife Leora he pondered down the lobby taking a pip at the resident shop of the hotel before moving towards the pool.

Have you always planned to be a Test Umpire? “No, it was rather an injury that brought me into Test umpiring. I began as a football referee. Umpiring is something I do to eke out a living. It has nothing to do with preferences,” Bucknor says, a wry smile hanging loosely about his face.

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Football has been important to Steve Bucknor always. He adores Manchester United and swears by Sir Bobby Charlton. And this Fifa-recognised referee, who chose to take up cricket umpiring more seriously, is not really all that excited about his ‘century’.

Bucknor, who has been an on-field umpire in four World Cup finals, says, “That is an achievement I am proud of and my goal now is to reach the 2007 World Cup. I want to officiate in five World Cup finals.”

“Reaching 100 Tests is not an achievement. It is something I do to earn money for my family. It is something that happens in due course of time,” Bucknor continues.

Asked whether it was a death threat in South Africa that forced him to call football refereeing quits, he recalls, “In Jamaica you get threats everyday. There are people sitting next to the sideline with guns telling you what to do.”

So who is his favourite on-field colleague? “Mr David Shepherd. We have done many tough matches together. He is a man who does not want the limelight but believes in teamwork. I admire his simplicity, honesty and unassuming nature.”

Of the captains he had dealt with “Steve Waugh Steve is tough and he wants what he thinks is his due. (Sourav) Ganguly is tough too. And Inzamam (ul-Haq) is the quietest. He doesn’t really say much,” the Jamaican, who officiated his first Test in 1988/89 in Kingston in a match featuring India and West Indies, says.

And of the 100 Tests that he has stood in, he spoke of an Ashes Test in Australia a few years back, when he had to stand for “eight-and-a-quarter hours” in a day. “I was the senior umpire and that was a test of my endurance.”

Mr Bucknor, nick named Slow Death for the slow ponderous way in which his finger goes up while giving decisions keeping life and death in balance for the batsman for the tantalisingly long few seconds, says of his ways, “In football there is no time. A referee has to decide immediately to keep up with the pace of the game. In cricket you have time. I deliberate and ask questions in my mind and only when I have all the answers do I call. I am an umpire who likes to say not out.”

However, Mr Bucknor has not really been the Indian team’s favourite. For its more the ‘outs’ than the ‘not outs’ that have hurt. “I do what I have to do on field and it makes no difference which team is out there. I will act that way even if my son or daughter is out there,” he says.

Controversy seems to chase the West Indian. For example the novel way of checking ball tampering by smelling the leather. “I just smell the ball. It is the easiest way to check if someone has tampered with the ball. If one side smells different from the other you can tell that someone has worked on it. You can tell that someone has applied something on it.’’ Bucknor’s statement is significant for Indian cricket fans.

One would never forget how he had charged ‘the Cricketer and the Gentleman’ Rahul Dravid of ball-tampering by spitting a sweet lozenge on the ball during India’s tour of Australia. Match referee Clive Lloyd had docked Dravid 50 per cent of his match fees. When Dravid walked out in the middle the next match, Steve was shown on TV picking up the ball and inspecting it closely after smelling it a couple of times.

‘‘The TV cameras are to blame. They focussed on Dravid walking out to bat at the same time they cut to me smelling the ball. It was a mere coincidence. I was not trying to tease Dravid. He is a fine man and I would never do anything to mock him,” he clarifies.

That very series saw Bucknor-India relations plummeting a new low. There were a number of decisions that went against India. It began with Sachin Tendulkar given out LBW in the first Test, then Parthiv Patel was pulled up for over appealing and a series of decisions that went against the Indians in the intensely competitive Sydney Test provoked Saurav Ganguly to rate him as ‘poor’ in the captain’s report.

“I have learnt from my mistakes and there is little I can do to change them,” Bucknor says. “But I have no regrets in my career,” Bucknor muses, ‘‘Each of the 99 Tests so far has taught me something new. I still believe that I am a student of the game and am not averse to accepting my mistakes.’’

The century Test for Steve Bucknor may not be remembered for all the correct decisions he had made, but for the decision of Sachin Tendulkar he gave. Sachin also perhaps missed his 35th Test century and his maiden at Eden Gardens. Later Steve said, “I’m sorry it was wrong decision. I have not seen the replays, but I have heard on it. So I came down to talk to you guys. I will try and concentrate more on my job from now to erase any such mistake. But life has to go on I guess.”

According to Bucknor, a packed Eden is still the toughest venue, “You really can’t hear the snicks with the crowd roaring. So you have to depend only on what you see.”

Mr Bucknor admits to have been indulgent to lighter moments on the field but he is certainly not tolerant to sledging. ”I will step in if it crosses the limit.” And should a batsman walk? “That is up to the individual. It is his right to stay at the crease till given out by the umpire.”