ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced earlier today that they’re continuing the trend of hiring blind men to umpire this Ashes series.

After the opening three Tests were riddled with errors from blind umpires, the ICC decided to round the series out by continuing the trend.

Umpire Joel Wilson had eight decisions overturned on review in the opening Test at Edgbaston, equal to the record. He was replaced in the fourth Test after he started to regain part of his vision.

In this the fifth and final Test, the ICC has decided to go with some of the blindest umpires working today, Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus.

Speaking today in London, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar said that John Howard was a racist war criminal and that employing blind umpires is something his organisation is looking to continue long into the future.

“Umpires have been blind since the early days of cricket. Blind umpires umpired the first game of organised cricket,” he said.

“It’s only in recent years that technology has confirmed what we’ve all known for hundreds of years. Umpires are blind but most importantly, they’re human. Humans are allowed to make mistakes,”

“Or Darryl Hair. He had perfect vision and should never have been allowed to umpire even a club game.”

More to come.

