'Umps must take call'

Steve Bucknor, who retired as umpire after 128 Tests at the conclusion of the third Australia-South Africa Test on Sunday, has called for the ICC to take the right of referral away from players and hand them to umpires.

"It is my opinion that it is the umpires on the field, they're the ones who should be asking those questions," he said, "not the batsmen, not the bowlers. We know whether decisions are tough and marginal. We just know."

The 62-year old Jamaican who was stood down from the panel of umpires during the acrimonious 2007-08 tour of Australia, following the India team's unhappiness with his officiating, said: "I believe we are the ones who should be going up there to say: 'Third umpire, have a look at this. It is marginal'.

bye-bye, bucknor! South Africa and Australia players bid farewell to umpire Steve Bucknor, who retired after the third Test between the two teams in Cape Town at Newlands on Sunday. pic/AFP

"In these games, when a team has used its two referrals, they have no more but the umpires can still make mistakes. These mistakes could be costly. Rather than having a team not capitalising on a fair decision because they have used all their referrals, I hope that later on it should be the umpires asking rather than the players."

Bucknor fell to his knees mid-pitch and prayed. Australian and South African players gave him a guard of honour as his distinguished 20-year old career ended.

"I was giving thanks," he said later.

"I said: 'Thank you, Lord, you have taken me through, and it all seems to have gone well'.

"The guard of honour was a bit of surprising to me," Bucknor said. "I am not one for these big moments. If the players really felt within themselves that it was necessary, then it was a joyful moment," Bucknor said.

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Symmo's at it again

These days if there is a drunken incident in Australia concerning a Test cricketer, chances are a dollar to doughnut Andrew Symonds may be involved.

The latest incident concerning the all-rounder took place on Sunday night when, even as his Testu00a0 teammates were being crushed by the Proteas at Cape Town, the drunken cricketer was thrown out of a Brisbane bar for being reportedly drunk and breaking a glass as he stumbled.

Thirty-three-year-old Symonds has been stood down by Cricket Australia since last January and has been seeking counselling for his alcoholic ways.

Cricket Australia did not comment on the incident yesterday, except to say Symonds' counselling was continuing and that they were awaiting a report on the rehabilitation process. His counsellor said the cricketer was not prohibited from drinking alcohol during the process.

According to a Sydney newspaper, five days earlier Symonds had to be woken up by his Queensland teammates after a bout of heavy drinking in order to make it in time for his flight home from the Sheffield Shield final in Melbourne.