Botham slams controversial Australian umpire

Botham, commentating on Sky Sports, could barely contain his anger as he felt Emerson got a string of highly contentious decisions wrong.

``If you've got an umpire who's on a different planet there's not much you can do,'' Botham said.

Emerson's first controversial decision came during England's innings when he no-balled Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing.

Furious captain Arjuna Ranatunga briefly lead his team off the field in protest. Emerson had no-balled Muralitharan on a previous Sri Lankan tour of Australia, and made his decision despite an International Cricket Council ruling that the player's action was legal.

Botham said: ``Sorry umpire, you are out of order. It's bizarre, it's unnecessary, it does nothing for the game of cricket.

``It's one man's moment of glory. The whole thing is out of hand. Here we have a club cricketer Emerson, the man who is telling the ICC throwing committee that they don't know what they are talking about.''

Botham added: ``All Muralitharan's twists and turns are with his wrist not his arm. There is nothing at all wrong with his action.''

During the thrilling climax to the game, as the Sri Lankans chased England's target of 303, two incidents in consecutive overs had Botham boiling over again.

First, Roshan Mahanama appeared to blatantly impede Gough as the Yorkshire followed up a delivery chasing a run-out.

``It was a deliberate obstruction and he should have been out. I don't know what he's doing out here. He's dropped his shoulder and went to Darren Gough, and I'm not surprised that Darren Gough is fuming,'' Botham said.

Then, when Vince Wells drew no complaints with a neck-high bowl, Botham added: ``Now you've got to ask how he got that one wrong... Jesus... this is international cricket we're talking about here.

``He Emerson has just missed a blatant no-ball for above chest height, he's missed a run-out, a blatant obstruction - in fact I'm just trying to remember what he's got right.''

Botham's co-commentator and fellow ex-England star Bob Willis agreed with his former teammate's analysis, saying: ``These umpires aren't strong enough or confident enough.''