The umpire who said so afterwards

Andrew Symonds was on 30 when he edged Ishant Sharma to MS Dhoni at Sydney in January 2008. Steve Bucknor did not give him out. Snickometer showed the edge afterwards.

Australia had been 134 for six.

Symonds went on to make 162 not out. He and Brad Hogg added 173 for the seventh wicket. Then he and Brett Lee added 114 for the eighth. Australia’s last four wickets were worth 329 of their 463, and every one of those runs was scored after a decision that the technology said was wrong.

The match that followed

Australia made 463. India replied with 532, Sachin Tendulkar making 154 not out and VVS Laxman 109, and led by 69 on first innings. Australia batted again and made 401 for 7 declared, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey both making centuries.

India needed 333 on the final day. At lunch they were 6 for one with a draw available and the whole afternoon to survive.

Rahul Dravid was given caught behind in the thirty-fourth over with his bat behind his pad, and the ball appearing to have flicked his knee roll. Sourav Ganguly made 51. Dhoni and Anil Kumble batted for over an hour together.

With about six minutes left, Michael Clarke, a part-time spinner who had bowled one over in the innings, took the last three Indian wickets in five balls. His figures were 1.5–0–5–3. India were all out for 210 and Australia won by 122.

Full scorecard: Australia v India, 2nd Test, Sydney, 2–6 January 2008 →

The Symonds reprieve was not the only one. Dravid’s dismissal was disputed. So was the catch Michael Clarke claimed to remove Ganguly. Anil Kumble, captaining India, said afterwards that only one side had been playing in the spirit of the game, which is close to the strongest thing a Test captain can say out loud.

The other thing that happened

Harbhajan Singh was charged with racially abusing Symonds on a complaint from Ricky Ponting, relayed to the match referee by the same two umpires. He was banned for three Tests by Mike Procter and the ban was later overturned. India came close to abandoning the tour.

Bucknor was withdrawn from the next Test of the series.

Mark Benson stood at the other end. Mike Procter was the referee and heard the Harbhajan charge. Rod Tucker and Bruce Oxenford were the reserve and television officials. Six men in match kit had authority over that Test and the argument attached itself almost entirely to one of them.

The umpire who said so afterwards

Umpires almost never revisit decisions in public, and the convention is a reasonable one: an official who relitigates his own calls makes every future call harder to give.

Bucknor broke it. Years later he said plainly that his mistake in that Test might have cost India the game, and named the Symonds decision as the one he meant.

That places one first-hand account into a record that normally contains none. It does not settle anything. An umpire's later opinion is not evidence about what the ball did. It does mean the argument is anchored to something firmer than inference from replays.

What it does not settle

Symonds added 132 after the decision and Australia won by 122, which is close enough that the point does not need pressing.

But India were bowled out for 210 chasing 333 on the last day with a draw there for the taking, and lost their final three wickets for nothing to a bowler who had barely bowled. A side that does that has not been beaten only by an umpire. Australia also made 401 for 7 in the second innings, which no decision produced.

Both things are true and the record holds both of them. What it cannot do is weigh them, and nobody who was there has ever tried in public except the umpire.

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