Umpiring in the 1974–75 Ashes series
The main point of contention in the umpiring of the 1974–75 Ashes series was the intimidatory bowling of the Australian fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. There were a few other issues, though there were the usual cases of batsmen being given out or not out despite the differing opinions of the players and umpire. At the time, umpires had no recourse to slow motion replays and had to make decisions based on what they saw in a split second, with the benefit of the doubt always going to the batsman. As a result it was not uncommon for umpires to make mistakes, which over the course of a long series tended to cancel each other out. The best an umpire could do was to make an honest judgement based on what he saw. Tom Brooks and Robin Bailhache were the umpires in all six Tests, but were junior for so important a series. Brooks having made his debut in the 1970–71 Ashes series and Bailhache in the First Test at Brisbane. Unusually for Australian umpires of the time Brooks had played First Class Cricket – he had been a lively fast-medium bowler – and as a result was more able to connect with the Test players, and was more forgiving of short-pitched deliveries which he saw as a natural part of the game. This helped England in 1970–71 when they had the fast bowlers John Snow and Bob Willis, but proved fatal for their batsmen in 1974–75. Intimidatory bowling Ian Chappell...made it clear more than once that he regarded the control of his side on the field as the concern solely of the umpires. Poor wretched men! I wonder what Ian thought might have happened if either Tom Brooks or Robin Bailhache had applied the full sanction of Law 46, and had banned either Lillee or Thomson on that emotion-charged Sunday afternoon. How many beer-cans might have besplattered the field, and angry spectators invaded the playing area? As it was the umpires contented themselves with friendly warnings afterwards described as 'unofficial'. In the circumstances it was hard to blame them. E.W. Swanton The England team thought that the Australian umpires failed to apply Law 46; 'the persistent bowling of fast short-pitched balls at the batsman is unfair if, in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler's end, it constitutes a systematic attempt at intimidation'. Wisden noted that "never in the 98 years of Test cricket have batsmen been so grievously bruised and battered by ferocious, hostile, short-pitched balls". Both Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson had written and stated that they liked to bowl bouncers to intimidate batsmen, with Thomson's 'blood on the wicket' statement particularly offending old-fashioned sensibilities. Traditionally it was the job of the captain to restrain his bowlers if they became too aggressive, but Ian Chappell refused to do so and the Australian umpires were loath to give them official warnings. It is rare in Test cricket for an umpire to give a bowler an