MITCH PHILLIPS, London | Tuesday 7.30pm.
SOUTH African umpire Rudi Koertzen admitted on Tuesday that he may have made mistakes in the second test between South Africa and England but said he is honest and is determined to prove he is a good official.
Koertzen was savaged in the English press after giving three English batsmen out to dubious decisions on Monday in the drawn match at Port Elizabeth.
”If I say I didn’t make mistakes I would be a liar,” he told Britain’s Radio Five.
”I can probably recall two — I missed the lbw on Gary Kirsten and maybe Chris Adams. There was a noise but if he didn’t hit it then I’m sorry I had it wrong.”
Adams was the victim of the fourth bad decision of the day on Monday. He was incredulous when given out after the ball looped up off his pads and was caught by Jonty Rhodes who did not appeal.
Opener Mark Butcher was the first to suffer as he was given out lbw to a ball pitching outside leg stump while another impressive innings by Michael Vaughan was brought to a premature end when Koertzen gave him out caught behind when television replays appeared to show no contact.
West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor then gave Alec Stewart out lbw to a ball that appeared to be missing leg stump by a distance.
Former England captain and all-rounder Ian Botham, working at the test for television, said: ”You are being very polite if you say those decisions were dreadful. A couple of them were beyond me.” Former England opener Geoff Boycott added: ”Some of the decisions were plain diabolical.”
But Koertzen said on Tuesday he had no idea that the England players had been unhappy with his performance.
”After what I have heard now I will watch the highlights to see where I got it wrong,” he said. ”If it’s a problem I will apologise.”
”Then I’ll go out in the fifth test (in Pretoria where he is due to stand) and prove to them I am a good umpire.”
Koertzen, from Port Elizabeth, said he did not think having two neutral umpires was necessary.
”I am an absolutely honest man and I go out there to do my best,” he said. ”Neutral umpires would not change that.
”We’ve got to have the guts to stand up if we make a mistake. I fully agree with the use of TV replays but they are not always conclusive and if it is not conclusive how can they say I made a mistake?”
ICC regulations forbid players from talking to the media about umpiring decisions. ”It’s not for me to comment on umpires,” said Hussain on Monday.
”I shall fill in my report which will be a private opinion on what I thought of it. You’ve all seen it and I’ll leave it to others to comment publicly.”
South Africa’s players might feel that the mistakes have evened things up after they were on the end of some poor decisions during their 1998 series defeat in England. — Reuters