LONDON – Former England captain Mike Gatting insisted Australia skipper Ricky Ponting had overstepped the mark with his angry questioning of the umpires during the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne on Monday.
Gatting said Ponting was wrong to berate Pakistan’s Aleem Dar for a verdict confirmed by the Decision Review System (DRS), as this should now be treated as a final judgment. Gatting, himself involved in an infamous finger-pointing row with umpire Shakoor Rana during England’s 1987/88 tour of Pakistan, said there could be no excuse for Ponting’s conduct in an age of neutral umpires backed up by television technology.
“This is what the DRS system was supposed to negate,” Gatting told BBC Radio Five Live. “You question umpires by referring but you really shouldn’t question umpires.”
