Peter Michael Cronin (born 21 December 1947) is a former Australian Test cricket match umpire, from

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Umpiring career

Cronin was one of two Australian on-field umpires in the

Underarm bowling incident of 1981 The underarm bowling incident of 1981 is a sporting controversy that took place on 1 February 1981, when Australia played New Zealand in a One Day International cricket match, the third in the best-of-five final of the 1980–81 World Series Cu ...

. He umpired in one Test match in 1980 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 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on 1 February to 6 February 1980, won by Australia by 8 wickets. The other on-fiend umpire was Robin Bailhache. Cronin umpired six

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. Altogether, he umpired 18 first-class matches in his career between 1977 and 1988.

Underarm bowling incident of 1981

Cronin was officiating alongside fellow Australian umpire

Don Weser Donald Gordon Weser (born 8 February 1937) is a retired Australian Test cricket match umpire, from Western Australia. He umpired 3 Test matches between 1979 and 1980. His first match was between Australia and England at Sydney from 10 to 14 F ...

during a match between Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 February 1981 when

Trevor Chappell Trevor Martin Chappell (born 12 October 1952) is a former Australian cricketer, a member of the South Australian Chappell family which excelled at cricket. He played 3 tests and 20 One Day Internationals for Australia. He won the Sheffield Shi ...

bowled the final ball

underarm The axilla (: axillae or axillas; also known as the armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm and ...

, which caused great controversy. Cronin was standing at the striker's end when Weser was informed by the Australian captain

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 ...

that his brother Trevor would bowl the final ball underarm, thus denying New Zealand the chance to hit a six and tie the game. This incident, illegal in England though legal at the time in Australia. 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 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 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 underarm delivery should have been adjudged a no-ball by the umpires.The Underarm Ball That Changed Cricket, Abhishek Raghunath, Forbes India, 11 February 2011

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Don Weser
at

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* 1947 births Living people Australian Test cricket umpires Australian One Day International cricket umpires {{Australia-cricket-bio-1940s-stub

Umpiring career

Underarm bowling incident of 1981

See also

References

External links