DURBAN, South Africa (CMC):

WEST INDIES team manager Clive Lloyd has criticised the decision by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to replace appointed umpire Steve Bucknor for next week's third Test between Australia and India in Perth.

"I think it's just silly. You can't do that," Lloyd stated emphatically. "So everybody now who says we don't want a certain umpire, we're going to remove them? It's a very bad precedent."

Bucknor, a Jamaican, angered India's players, fans and officials with a series of critical errors in the second Test in Sydney, which the Australians won with just nine minutes to spare on the final day last Sunday. The victory equalled their own world record of 16 consecutive Test wins and gave them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.

"I'm not saying this because he's a West Indian," Lloyd added. "What happens if Billy Bowden or the other umpire makes a couple of mistakes, do we get rid of both of them? If find it very strange."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India immediately protested Bucknor's appointment for the Perth Test while also threatening to pull its team out of the series over the banning of Harbhajan Singh for three Tests after match referee Mike Procter found the off-spinner guilty of using a racial slur at Man-of-the-Match Andrew Symonds.

Series to continue

Singh has since been reinstated pending an appeal which is to be heard at a date yet to be determined, while the New Zealander, Bowden, will take Bucknor's place. The decisions now clear the way for the series to continue as scheduled.

While reiterating that cricket is only a game and that umpiring mistakes, as untimely as they may be, have always been part of the game and should be accepted in that spirit, Lloyd endorsed the use of available technology to assist the officials.

"What we can do to improve the situation is if we give both on-field umpires three chances per innings to go upstairs (refer to the television umpire), we'll eradicate all of this," he explained.

"How many mistakes would an umpire make in a Test match, three or four? Such a system would eradicate that. We're using it for other things but we're not using it where it can help the umpires."

A member of the ICC panel of match referees before accepting the role of West Indies team manager, Lloyd vouched for the integrity of all umpires on the elite panel. "No one wants to cheat," he stressed. "I've dealt with all those umpires. They try to do the best they can. But it's obvious that, as humans, you will have mistakes, and we have to accept that."

Bucknor is the most senior of the elite umpires and has officiated in the final of every World Cup since 1992.