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Melbourne: Australian spin legend Shane Warne has lambasted the current lot of international umpires, saying that barring Simon Taufel and Asad Rauf, the standard of on-field officials has hit a 20-year low.
"The standard of umpiring is as low as I've known it in 20 years. Yes, it is a difficult job and technology exposes many mistakes, but some of the performances in the Ashes series so far have been pretty ordinary," Warne said.
"Of the current panel, (Pakistan's) Asad Rauf is pretty good and (Australia's) Simon Taufel isn't bad. Rudi Koertzen has been a good umpire, but unfortunately his time has passed. Billy Bowden is inconsistent. I think Billy can be very good, but sometimes he gets a bit carried away," he said in a column for 'The Daily Telegraph'.
Warne said a bad decision once in a while doesn't hurt many but mistakes are happening way too often now.
"Players will accept that the odd bad decision gets through now and again. At the moment, there are just too many."
The flamboyant tweaker said umpires like Daryl Harper and Bowden are very rigid and don't like admitting their mistakes.
"Their attitude is crucial. Talking to players and having a friendly nature is imperative, not the 'I'm the boss' schoolteacher approach of Daryl Harper, who is unpopular with players, and the attitude that they never make an error. Billy is another who cannot admit a mistake," Warne said.
Warne also reiterated that One-day should be scrapped.
"Cricket evolves, and the 50-over game has passed its sell-by date. It's amazing to think that after the Ashes series England and Australia play seven One-day games, which will take about a month. Sorry, but that's just greed on the part of administrators," he said.
"From now on, we should be playing Tests and Twenty20 internationals, with a Twenty20 World Cup every two years. TV still gets seven hours of cricket every weekend, but it's Twenty20," he added.
Warne said ending One-dayers would give players a chance to spend more time with their families and prevent burn-outs.
"By also eliminating One-day cricket the players would be freed up to spend more time at domestic level, grass roots cricket and time at home with families," he said.
