Peter Cronin

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Peter Michael Cronin (born 21 December 1947) is a former Australian Test cricket match umpire, from South Australia. [1]

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Umpiring career

Cronin was one of two Australian on-field umpires in the Underarm bowling incident of 1981.

He umpired in one Test match in 1980 between Australia and England at Melbourne on 1 February to 6 February 1980, won by Australia by 8 wickets. The other on-fiend umpire was Robin Bailhache.

Cronin umpired six One Day International (ODI) matches between 1979 and 1981. Altogether, he umpired 18 first-class matches in his career between 1977 and 1988.

Underarm bowling incident of 1981

Cronin was officiating alongside fellow Australian umpire Don Weser during a match between Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 February 1981 when Trevor Chappell bowled the final ball underarm, which caused great controversy. Cronin was standing at the striker's end when Weser was informed by the Australian captain Greg Chappell that his brother Trevor would bowl the final ball underarm, thus denying New Zealand the chance to hit a six and tie the game. This incident, illegal in England though legal at the time in Australia.

The match branded as the Underarm incident was notable for several umpiring controversies.

During the Australian innings, Martin Snedden claimed a low outfield catch off the batting of Greg Chappell when Chappell was on 58. [2] In his live commentary former Australian cricket captain Richie Benaud exclaimed "that is one of the best catches I have ever seen in my life". [3] Following a short discussion, Snedden's catch was ruled not out by the two Australian umpires, Weser and Cronin. It was some years before TV replays could be used in umpiring decisions. However the Channel Nine TV broadcast did show viewers a number of slow motion replays of Snedden's catch from various TV angles including a close up of Snedden diving to fairly claim the catch. After reviewing several TV replays Benaud re-affirmed what he had initially seen live, stating in his commentary: "there is no question in my mind that that was a great catch - clearly caught above the ground, a superb catch." [4] Chappell went on to score 90 in his innings.

In yet another umpiring controversy during the match, Australia had one too many fielders outside the field restriction line when the final ball was bowled meaning the underarm delivery should have been adjudged a no-ball by the umpires. [5]

See also

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The 1958–59 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each scheduled for six days with eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59, and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club. The England team led by Peter May was labelled the strongest ever to leave England. It had the formidable bowling attack of Fred Trueman, Frank Tyson, Brian Statham, Peter Loader, Jim Laker and Tony Lock; the all-rounder Trevor Bailey; the outstanding wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans; and the batting of Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Raman Subba Row and Ted Dexter. They had won the last three Ashes series in 1953, 1954–55 and 1956, but lost the series 4–0 to Australia. It was one of the biggest upsets in Test cricket history and the biggest margin of defeat in an Ashes series since the 5–0 "whitewashing" inflicted by Warwick Armstrong's Australians in 1920–21.

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The England team were very unhappy with the umpiring of the 1958–59 Ashes series, in particular the questionable actions of some bowlers in the Australian team. The televising of Test cricket was in its infancy and the notion of Test umpires using slow-motion replays or other modern techniques was considered absurd. Instead the umpires had to make judgements based on what they saw in a split-second, and honest mistakes were accepted as part and parcel of the game. However, touring teams sometimes felt that there was a natural bias towards the home team which led to some acrimony. Keith Miller thought "Mel McInnes, Colin Hoy and Ron Wright were our leading umpires in the 1954-55 M.C.C. tour of Australia, and I have no hesitation in saying that McInnes gave the finest exhibition of umpiring in a Test series that I have experienced". The England team thought well of him too, but in 1958-59 he lost the confidence of the England players and himself, appeared hesitant and gave some surprising decisions. In the Fourth Test he hesitated to give Ken Mackay out even after the batsman walked after snicking a catch off Brian Statham. Later Colin McDonald should have been run out when Fred Trueman flattened the stumps after his runner Jim Burke ran round the back of McInnes. McInnes gave him out, but then changed his mind and gave him not out as he had not seen whether Burke had made the run or not. On his next ball McDonald sportingly pulled his bat out of the way of the stumps to give Trueman "the easiest Test wicket I have ever taken". Trueman was affected again when he batted, given out caught by Wally Grout off Richie Benaud when he had dropped his bat and missed the ball. The England team became dispirited by the umpiring mistakes and, believing the officials to be against them, lost heart. As Fred Trueman wrote

...the Australian umpires demonstrated as much impartiality as a religious zealot. We just couldn't get favourable decisions and they no-balled England bowlers left, right and centre...one of the umpires consistently no-balled me...It was annoying, especially as this umpire seemed to allow Gordon Rorke to bowl with both his feet over the front line!...I suffered, as did others, from appalling umpiring decisions when batting...It was unbelievable."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1974–75 Ashes series</span> International cricket tour

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References

  1. "Peter Cronin". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  2. Wisden Cricketers Almanack – 119th edition (1982)
  3. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : W T F Australia??? Why do they cheat at cricket? F*CK! Greg Chappell given not out- GREAT CATCH!. YouTube .
  4. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : W T F Australia??? Why do they cheat at cricket? F*CK! Greg Chappell given not out- GREAT CATCH!. YouTube .
  5. The Underarm Ball That Changed Cricket, Abhishek Raghunath, Forbes India, 11 February 2011