Ross Alexander Emerson (born 26 February 1954) is a former Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

umpire who is best known for calling Sri Lankan

off-spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

ner

Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan ( si, මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන්, ta, முத்தையா முரளிதரன், also spelt Muralidaran; born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, former professional c ...

for

throwing Throwing is an action which consists in accelerating a projectile and then releasing it so that it follows a ballistic trajectory, usually with the aim of impacting a remote target. This action is best characterized for animals with prehensile ...

. He also played grade cricket for Petersham-Marrickville in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

grade cricket competition. He is the brother-in-law of former

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

swing bowler

Terry Alderman Terence Michael Alderman (born 12 June 1956) is a former Australia cricket team, Australian international cricketer who played primarily as a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He began his first-class cricket career in 1974 with Western Australia i ...

. After making his first-class umpiring debut in the 1982–83 season, Emerson was promoted to the National Umpires panel in 1993–94. He made his ODI debut in a match between Sri Lanka and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in January, 1996. He immediately became controversial, no-balling Muralitharan seven times, and continuing to do so even when he switched to bowling legbreaks, which are regarded as being impossible to throw. This led to Muralitharan being dropped by Sri Lanka for the rest of the tour, as he was unable to bowl without being called. Emerson continued to officiate in ODIs for the next three years, standing in nine more games, all in Australia, but it was his last game which overshadowed even the first. On 23 January 1999 in Adelaide, standing at square leg, Emerson once again called Muralitharan, leading to Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his team off the field in protest and consult team management and the match referee. The match later continued after Emerson threatened to award the match to England, with Muralitharan confined to bowling legbreaks; Emerson claimed that cricket was controlled by Asian countries.

Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...

went on to score a century and the Sri Lankans won in the last over with Muralitharan scoring the final runs. Video clearly showed the Emerson was calling Muralitherans leg breaks as throws as well, proving that he was simply out to call no balls, regardless of them involving straightening the arm or not (Emerson had what can best be described as having a poor game when the later missed a clear run out of Jayawardene). Emerson was subsequently stood down, and then was not reappointed to officiate again, claimed he had been asked to no-ball Murali by an Australian official and was ignored once the incident became a major issue. "I was called to a meeting with him (Australian Cricket Board Official) and, knowing that I had called some other players, he told me I had set standards in certain areas which I should uphold in Adelaide" Emerson said. "Yet everything blew up after I called Murali and when I saw him again he wouldn't even look at me". He subsequently retired from cricket, and as of November 2004, is the president of Swimming Western Australia. However, he remained defiant, saying that Muralitharan's action was "worse than ever". However, cricket commentator

Peter Roebuck Peter Michael Roebuck (6 March 195612 November 2011) was an English cricketer who later became an Australian newspaper columnist and radio commentator. A consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and "one of the better English openers ...

labelled Emerson a "nincompoop" for calling his legbreak a noball. Roebuck however said that the

Doosra A doosra is a particular type of delivery by an off-spin bowler in the sport of cricket. The doosra spins in the opposite direction to an off break (the off-spinner's default delivery), and aims to confuse the batsman into playing an unavoid ...

was an illegal delivery because his elbows did straighten.

References

External links

*
Ross Emerson turns away from cricket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, Ross 1954 births Living people Australian cricketers Australian One Day International cricket umpires

See also

References

External links