Donald Gordon Weser (born 8 February 1937) is a retired Australian Test cricket match umpire, from

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He umpired 3

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

between 1979 and 1980. His first match was between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

from 10 to 14 February 1979, won by England by 9 wickets, thus retaining

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

. Australian captain

Graham Yallop Graham Neil Yallop (born 7 October 1952) is a former Australian international cricketer. Yallop played Test and One Day International cricket for the Australia national cricket team between 1976 and 1984, captaining the side briefly during th ...

scored 121 of the first innings total of 198, but the rest of the batting in both innings failed against

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...

John Emburey John Ernest Emburey (born 20 August 1952) is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Western Province, Berkshire and England. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 198 ...

and

Geoff Miller Geoffrey Miller, (born 8 September 1952) is an English former cricketer, who played in 34 Test matches and 25 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team between 1976 and 1984. Nicknamed "Dusty", he played for Derbyshire from 1973 to ...

. Weser's partner was fellow debutant

Tony Crafter Anthony Ronald (Tony) Crafter, (born 5 December 1940 in Mount Barker, South Australia), is a former Australian Test cricket match umpire. He umpired 33 Test matches between 1979 and 1992, the highest number by an Australian umpire to that ti ...

. Weser's last Test match was between Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

on 12 to 14 December 1980, won by Australia by 8 wickets, with a bowling attack of

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is a retired Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

Rodney Hogg Rodney Malcolm Hogg (born 5 March 1951) is an Australian former cricketer. He was a fast bowler. Hogg played in 38 Test matches and 71 One Day Internationals between 1978 and 1985. In Tests he took 123 wickets at an average of 28.47. He is be ...

, Len Pascoe, and Jim Higgs proving too powerful. Weser's colleague was again

. Weser also umpired 8

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) matches between 1979 and 1981.

Underarm bowling incident of 1981

On 1 February 1981, during the third World Series Cup final at the MCG between Australia and New Zealand, Weser was informed by Greg Chappell that his brother Trevor would bowl the final ball underarm, thus denying New Zealand the chance to hit a six and tie the game. It was Weser's duty to inform both batsmen which he duly did. This incident, illegal in England but legal at the time in Australia, is one of the great controversies of world cricket. The match branded as the Underarm incident was notable for several umpiring controversies. During the Australian innings, Martin Snedden claimed a low outfield catch off the batting of

Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminent ...

when Chappell was on 58. In his live commentary former Australian cricket captain

Richie Benaud Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales cricket team, New South Wales and Australia national cricket team, Australia. Following his retirement from international cricket in ...

exclaimed "that is one of the best catches I have ever seen in my life". Following a short discussion, Snedden's catch was ruled not out by the two Australian umpires, Weser and Peter Cronin. It was some years before TV replays could be used in umpiring decisions. However the Channel Nine TV broadcast did show viewers a number of slow motion replays of Snedden's catch from various TV angles including a close up of Snedden diving to fairly claim the catch. After reviewing several TV replays Benaud re-affirmed what he had initially seen live, stating in his commentary: "there is no question in my mind that that was a great catch - clearly caught above the ground, a superb catch." Chappell went on to score 90 in his innings. In yet another umpiring controversy during the match, Australia had one too many fielders outside the field restriction line when the final ball was bowled meaning the delivery should have been adjudged a no-ball by the umpires. The match would be the last international men's cricket match Weser was to umpire. The Underarm match would also be the last international match for umpire Cronin. Weser did umpire one women's Test match in 1984. Altogether, he umpired 32 first-class matches in his career between 1977 and 1985. He has a son - Michael Perry Weser (born 17 September 1958)

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* * 1937 births Living people Australian Test cricket umpires Australian One Day International cricket umpires {{Australia-cricket-bio-stub

Underarm bowling incident of 1981

See also

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