Ashoka de Silva

[sohum]

I love that he's been called 'ashocka' so much now that his name is just spelled with an h out of habit.

Haha, actually it has more to do with the usage/sound of the "s" in subcontinent languages. There are three "s" sounds in the Hindi language--not sure about the languages they speak down in Lanka. But basically I think the pronunciation is "Ashoka" with a "shhh" sound but the spelling is without an 'h'.

In fact, it is probably related to the fact that in some parts of South India, a single 's' is used to denote an 'sh' sound and (ironically), when something is spelled 'sh' it represents a solid 's' sound. My guess is that the proximity of Sri Lanka to South India probably has something to do with the English spelling.

sohum added 2 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...

Apparently umpires "get 97.3% of all decisions right".
Just a shame that 95% of them are so easy a blind man could do it.

Yeah, I've always had a problem when sports commentators (of any sport) try justifying umpiring decisions with a percentage figure.

Do these decisions, for example, include things such as regulation edges, simple catches, run outs, no balls, wides, etc.? Or are those figures only for contested decisions... for example LBWs and thin edges? There's no value if it includes every single situation where the fielding team appeals because technically you have to appeal to get a wicket and many cases the decisions are pretty straightforward.

sohum added 1 Minutes and 35 Seconds later...

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Also, Insomniac may have sour grapes, but de Silva is seriously one of the most incompetent umpires on the panel. The fact that he was one of the few (if not only) umpires to ever be dropped from the Elite Panel (not retired) should go a long way in explaining how bad he is. Unless he got some sort of vision or aural correction, he couldn't have possibly gotten better at making decisions.... unless, you know, he was high or something previously and now can apply full concentration.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Why is everyone forgetting, it was Daryl harper who did not give a very straight forward lbw against Deviliers? I know Ashoka is not good but Harper is not any better. I have seen him make blatant mistakes many a times.

 

[Slowcoach]

Also, adding to this Mark Taylor is a monkey theory, expect him to mention the word "howler" about 3000 times in a single day if there is a close decision which turns the match and would have been overruled with a video replay.
Mark Taylor = Howler Monkey