November 15, 2006	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 14: West Indies captain Brian Lara had expressed his surprise on seeing umpire Asoka de Silva as match official during a formal meeting supervised by chief referee Roshan Mahanama prior to the start of the first Test, informed sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

Sources said Lara looked astonished at Asoka’s presence and asked Mahanama about him. He, apparently, told the referee that he had not seen the Sri Lankan officiating for quite sometime in international cricket and what exactly was the official doing in Lahore.

The match referee then informed Lara that Asoka had been a part of the ICC elite panel of umpires until two years ago and is currently on the international panel for the world governing body.

Asoka was clearly found wanting in his rulings during the Lahore Test and gave at least four controversial decisions, majority of which went against the West Indies.

Apart from his dubious leg-before ruling against opener Chris Gayle in the first innings, Asoka surprised everyone by not referring an stumping appeal against Mohammad Yousuf to the third umpire on the second day when the batsman was batting on 53.

Yousuf’s foot was clearly on the line when wicket-keeper Denesh Ramden took off the bails but Asoka ruled in batsman’s favour who then went onto compile a match-winning 192.

Moreover, during the West Indies second innings the Sri Lankan umpire adjudged Ramnaresh Sarwan leg before to an Umar Gul delivery that clearly hit the batsman above the knee roll. He also ruled Ramdin out to a bat-pad catch claimed by Imran Farhat when the TV replays suggested there was no bat involved.

Lara, who scored 122 in the second innings, also got a chance from Asoka when he was struck infront of the wicket by Shoaib Malik on the fourth day.

At the post-match news conference later in the day, Lara avoided to comment over the standard of the umpiring by saying, “it is all part of the game. One day you get a decision in your favour and on another it could be against you.”

Asoka de Silva will not be supervising anymore Tests in the series as the ICC has named Daryl Harper and Mark Benson for the second and third Test matches.