Billy Doctrove

Chittagong: Billy Doctrove is no stranger to controversy and he seems to have made a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

For example: During India’s tour of the West Indies last year, when the visitors effected a run-out in the second ODI and turned to the square-leg umpire, Doctrove wasn’t there. He was seen coming back from the deep fine-leg boundary after attending to some advertising boards. After a discussion with his colleague, Asad Rauf, a dead ball was called.

Then in the opening Test of that tour, Simon Taufel and Rauf referred Daren Ganga’s catch by Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Doctrove, who was the TV umpire. He couldn’t make a decision and lobbed the ball back into his on-field colleagues’ court. The chaos ended only when Rahul Dravid declared the innings.

The Oval Test fiasco in August surpassed everything. Pakistan were charged with ball tampering and event on to forfeit the match — the first forfeiture in Test history. The International Cricket Council subsequently removed Australian Darrell Hair from the Elite Panel of Umpires, but Doctrove survived the controversy.

“All this is part of a learning curve. The Oval Test fiasco undoubtedly caused a crisis in the game. But I’ve put it behind me as a learning experience. I have not only become a better umpire since, but also a better person... I hope these lessons will help me in future,” the 51-year-old Doctrove told The Telegraph in an exclusive interview on Monday.

He didn’t want to say who was wrong or right (“maybe I’ll write a book in the future on the issue”), or whether the ball was actually out of shape. “We had to award the match to England after Pakistan refused to play. But it’s in the past, maan... I don’t want to relive it,” his said.

A family man with three kids, Doctrove prays he can keep errors to a minimum. “An umpire always goes out to the middle with the idea of making 100 per cent correct decisions. But when you give a wrong verdict, you must realise that this is not the last one. So you pray and hope mistakes are minimised.”

Doctrove, who has been on the Elite Panel since 2002, also says there are no “bad boys” in the game. “Some players are difficult to handle, but I don’t think they have the proverbial ‘bad boy’ image. It is all about man management,” he said.

Away from cricket, Doctrove is a die-hard Liverpool fan. “I’m looking forward to Liverpool winning the Champions League final (against AC Milan in Athens). Maan, it will be a great achievement for my favourite club. Sure, I’m going to watch the match on Wednesday,” he said.

Interestingly, the West Indian’s association with the club has earned him the sobriquet “Toshack”, after Liverpool legend John Toshack who helped the club win the Uefa Cup in 1973 and 1976.

“I was invited by the Liverpool chief executive, Rick Parry, to watch the Premiership match against West Ham United at Anfield last year. I had met some of my heroes like Toshack and Ian Rush. It was one of my happiest days,” he recollected.

Doctrove was a full-time international football referee before switching over to umpiring. He even officiated in a World Cup qualifier between Guyana and Granada in 1996. He is still the president of the Dominican Football Referees’ Association.

Doctrove also, like fellow-umpire Steve Bucknor, rues the decline of West Indian cricket.

“The West Indies need academies like Australia and India. There is no system in place for grooming our talent. The administrators must wake up and face reality. If we don’t heed the warning we got in the World Cup, we will be doomed,” he said.