Call for cricket boycott

Due to the absence of qualified cricket umpires officiating in the First Division of the Central Zone, Calcutta Sports are looking for support from other clubs to shut down the competition until the matter is resolved.

Calcutta official, Noushard Mohammed, said yesterday he was very upset by the fact that since the beginning of the season official umpires have not been doing matches. “It breaks your heart when you put out so much to play the game and non-umpires spoil your fun. When we turn up to play, both teams have to put out an umpire to officiate and this is not good because apart from not having the ability as an official, bias occurs. “Imagine only last week a player made an appeal after a batsman was caught and the ‘umpire’ told him he was not giving the batsman out because the bowler was rude to him earlier on,” said Mohammed.

It is alleged that the official umpires dumped the Central Zone after a dispute over their allowance arose. Chairman of the Central Zone, Roland Sampath when contacted said he wished not to comment on the matter but  teams can rest assured that the matter will be addressed soon. Mohammed also revealed that he had made a proposal that the teams pay the umpires in order to have them on duty.  He said this idea was not given the blessings of the zone officials, for the fear of umpires favouring teams that pay their fees.