On the face of it the decision to fine Stephen Fleming 40% of his match fee for showing "dissent" to an umpire during New Zealand's defeat by Australia at the MCG on Tuesday is nothing unusual. In an era where outbursts are as common as a Glenn McGrath stare, fines and reprimands are everyday events. But closer examination of the circumstances leading to Fleming's fine make it clear the penalty was ludicrous.

According to the match referee, Hanumant Singh, Fleming despatched Shane Warne for a leg-side boundary and then complained to the umpires, Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel, that they had not noticed that Steve Waugh had placed a third fielder outside the restricted circle at a time when only two were permitted. The umpires huffed and puffed, but eventually realised that Fleming was right. Hair belatedly called a no-ball and the match went on.

One might have thought that faced with a clear-cut situation of being caught napping, Messrs Hair and Taufel would have gritted their teeth, blushed and mentioned no more about the subject. If, in passing, Fleming had let them know that they were dozy so-and-sos, they should have been man enough to accept it as punishment for their mistake. Instead they ran squealing to the match referee.

Because of the increased use of technology, umpires have less to think about, and the most nerve-wracking one-day decision, the run-out, is no longer their worry. Counting to six now rates high on the job qualification, and in the one-day game enforcing the complex rules on fielding restrictions takes up quite a bit of their time.

This was not a player querying a decision, it was a player asking the officials to do their job properly in a high-pressure situation where every run counted. But Hanumant Singh did not see it that way, ruling that Fleming was guilty of "showing dissent to the umpire's decision". If pointing out to the umpires that they are not applying the rules as laid down is classified as dissent (it has to be assumed that Fleming did not query their eventual rectification of the situation) then it has to be assumed that umpires now rival the Pope in the infallibility stakes.

Singh said that the ruling was necessary to rid the game of "unsavoury elements". The only unsavouriness at the MCG seems to be umpires being officious as well as half-asleep.

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