New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden dropped from international panel

New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden dropped from international panel
JUNE 17, 201611:43AM


AP with staff writers
FOX SPORTS

FLAMBOYANT umpire Billy Bowden might have stood in his last international match after being dropped from New Zealand Cricket’s international panel.
The 53-year-old New Zealander, who officiated in 84 Tests and 200 one-day internationals over 21 years, amused fans with his eccentric signals, especially the crooked finger with which he indicated dismissals.
Bowden insisted he couldn’t extend the finger because of arthritis.
He was dropped from the International Cricket Council’s elite panel in 2013, returned in 2014, but was omitted again after umpiring the Test between the West Indies and England in May, 2015 in Barbados.


Nobody does it quite like Billy does.Source:News Limited

Bowden puts plenty of effort into his signals.Source:News Limited

Bowden umpired his 200th ODI in February when New Zealand played Australia in Wellington.
In a rare 2009 interview with the Sunday Star Times, Bowden revealed that the ICC had asked him to conform to a more regular style of gestures when in the middle, but his reply was “it’s the best I can do”.
“Players understand it and they walk off when they see the finger, even if they think they are half-out,” Bowden said.
“It says in the rules you’ve got to lift your index finger above your head, that’s what I’m doing. It doesn’t say you have to lift your index finger straight above your head.

“Umpires have their own characters and their own personalities. We’re not clones. We’re not paper cut-outs. It would be a boring place if we were all exactly the same.
“There’s no additives when you see me, no preservatives. It’s freshly squeezed. What you see is what you get.”

Umpire Billy Bowden looks on as England's Ian Bell and Australia's David Warner have words. Picture: Phil Hillyard.Source:News Limited

The Kiwi umpire famously gave Glenn McGrath a mock red card during the first ever T20 International in Auckland in 2005 - as McGrath jokingly prepared to bowl an underarm ball.
Indeed Bowden has a long history with Australian cricket, officiating in Steve Waugh’s final Test, where Bowden says he hugged the former Aussie captain.
“I think Steve liked it,” Bowden said.
However it hasn’t always been a positive relationship, with Aussie players rating Bowden as the worst umpire in Test cricket during an anonymous survey in 2007.

www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/new-zealan...7555152b884e0ce7a7c4