England legend Geoffrey Boycott has called for the replacement of the present quartet of 'neutral' umpires officiating in the Ashes, saying that they are not 'up to the task' and are too 'frightened' to change an on-field decision.
Boycott also urged the ICC to bring in English and Australian umpires in place of the 'error-making' officials.
According to the Daily Star, the angry outburst of Boycott came after the shock dismissal of Australian batsman Usman Khawaja due to a wrong Decision Review System (DRS) call in Australia's first innings at Old Trafford, which was also slammed by their prime minister Kevin Rudd on Twitter.
The report further said that Khawaja was given out by umpire Tony Hill after being caught behind by Matt Prior and then third umpire Kumar Dharmasena failed to overturn the verdict.
Although he defended the DRS currently in place, Boycott called on the ICC to get some new umpires quickly for the Tests, which have been over-shadowed by incompetent and shocking umpiring decisions, saying that the four 'neutral' umpires are not up for the job and have taken down the standard of umpiring in this series.
Boycott further said that the ICC should get in some English and Australian umpires if they cannot change the quartet.
Defending the DRS, Boycott called the howlers as 'bad human errors', saying that DRS is fine as long as the umpires can read it properly, although he added that the Snickometer is not perfect.
According to Boycott, Sri Lankan Dharmasena will now be too 'frightened' to change an on-field decision in case he gets it wrong again.
Agreeing with Boycott, former England captain and fast bowler Bob Willis also called for getting in English and Australian umpires and ditch the neutral umpires, saying that they have become an 'embarrassment' and are ruining the series.
