Darryl Harper in the spotlight over Graeme Smith controversy
A second highly contentious ruling in successive days by Darryl Harper, the third umpire, may yet prove a pivotal moment in this third Test.
If Harper’s decision not to call a no-ball when Alastair Cook was leg before on the first day was one of those 50-50 cases that England eventually chose to accept, the Australian official’s failure to pick up the noise of an edge from Graeme Smith appeared to have been a bad error on his part.
Cutting at Ryan Sidebottom early in the morning session when 15, Smith was reprieved by umpire Tony Hill despite impassioned appeals from England close fielders, who clearly heard something. The South Africa captain added a further 90 runs to his score before England eventually dismissed him, Andrew Strauss taking a smart catch at first slip after Smith edged a ball that left him in the air - but the damage had been done.
The decision to give Smith not out had immediately been referred to Harper, who rejected the review. When the television tapes were played back, a noise was clearly audible, although no deviation could be seen either by Hawk-Eye or the naked eye. Often, a very thin edge, or ‘feather’ as it is known in the game, cannot be picked up on TV, but the noise could not have been anything bar an edge as the bat was a long way from the pad and ground.
It is not known whether Harper had the volume control on the various microphones he has at his disposal – either the stump microphone or the umpires’ microphones – turned up or down.
Clearly, he should have had them up. Nor could there be any question of any technical shortfall from SABC, according to the host telecaster. Paul Smit, a senior technician with SABC at the Wanderers, told Times Online that there was no question that Harper would not have received the audio.
“We definitely sent the audio through to Harper,” Smit said. “We do checks at the start of each day to make sure everything is working OK. It’s then up to him where he sets the volume or what he chooses to listen to.”
Troy Chelin, a South African technician working for Sky TV, which has some additional cameras of its own at the ground in addition to those of SABC, added that three different replays of Smith’s edge were sent to Harper. He also revealed Harper’s decision was made quickly.
“It’s a pity there’s no Snicko, which would have given Harper another means of checking," Smit continued. “Hotspot isn’t being used here as there are only a couple of pieces of the right equipment in the world that can do the job and both are booked. The one problem with Hotspot is that if the sun is shining brightly, the whole bat can light up white, meaning that any contact with it cannot be pinpointed or proved.”
SABC are expected to release a statement this afternoon and while it is unlikely Harper will comment on the issue, match referee Roshan Mahanama may comment on the issue.