Brathwaite questions umpiring after defeat against Australia

Carlos Brathwaite said the West Indies were on the wrong end of too much poor umpiring following a 15-run World Cup defeat by champions Australia as Michael Holding slammed an “atrocious” display by the match officials.

West Indies opener Chris Gayle and captain Jason Holder were both twice given out on the field at Trent Bridge on Thursday but, on both sets of occasions, saw their decision to review vindicated by the third umpire.

The mood of the Caribbean side was not helped when standing umpire Chris Gaffaney missed a Mitchell Starc no-ball the delivery before the left-arm quick dismissed Gayle for 21.

Had the New Zealand official called a no-ball, the next delivery would have been a free hit from which the veteran opener could not have been dismissed.

Brathwaite accepted Gaffaney and Sri Lanka’s Ruchira Palliyaguruge were doing their best, but he made no attempt to hide his annoyance after the West Indies fell short chasing a target of 289 in Nottingham.

“I don’t know if I’ll be fined for saying it but I just think that the umpiring was a bit frustrating,” Brathwaite told reporters.

“Even when we were bowling we thought a few balls close to head height were called wides.

“And obviously three decisions...as far as I can remember being dodgy, it was frustrating and sent ripples through the dressing room,” the all-rounder added.

“To lose Chris in a chase of 280, who can probably get 180 of them himself obviously, broke the start that we wanted to have.

“But the umpires do their job, they try to do it to the best of their ability, we as players go out there to do our job as well, so there was no confrontation between the players and the umpires.”

Gaffaney raised his finger twice in three balls to gove Gayle while Palliyaguruge was two-times over-ruled by replays after raising his finger against Holder.

Brathwaite made it clear the decisions had not been the key reason why the West Indies had lost, but said they were part of a concerning pattern.

Agence France-Presse