Daren Sammy head coach of West Indies confirmed that match officials admitted mistakes were made during the opening Test in Barbados but said he bears no ill will toward TV umpire Adrian Holdstock, who will now move to an on-field role in Grenada.
Sammy was penalised with a 15% match fee fine and a demerit point after publicly questioning Holdstock’s decisions, especially those that went against Roston Chase and Shai Hope. He had also voiced concerns based on West Indies’ recent tour of England. Interestingly, Chase escaped any ICC sanctions despite also criticising the umpiring.
“𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎,” 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅. “𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. 𝑾𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 [𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔]. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒅𝒂, 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅.”
‘No Grudges’ Against Umpires
When asked whether he regretted his criticism of Holdstock, Sammy was clear about moving on.
“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘. 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑨𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆.”
Carey Reflects on Crucial Catch Decision
Australia have largely stayed out of the debate, though they admitted they benefitted from key decisions in Barbados. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey recalled the tension when replays of his diving catch to dismiss Shai Hope were shown on the big screen.
Carey had flung himself full-length to his left to grab the inside edge off Beau Webster’s bowling. Hope was on 48 at the time, playing his first Test in over three years.
“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒚𝒆𝒔,” 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏.”
He added:
“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒔𝒊𝒙, 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 50-50 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆. 𝑯𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒋𝒐𝒃. 𝑾𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑰 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.”
Carey said he was relieved the decision went in his favour:
“𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰 𝒇𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆. 𝑨 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔.”
Holdstock’s Upcoming Matches
Holdstock will now officiate on-field with Richard Kettleborough in the Grenada Test and then partner with Nitin Menon in Jamaica. Notably, Kettleborough will stand in his 93rd Test match, surpassing David Shepherd’s record as the most Tests by an English umpire.
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