Who is England’s Richard Kettleborough who gave controversial out to Subhman Gill in Oval?

English umpire Richard Kettleborough was in the center of controversy once again after giving promising batsman Subhman Gill out in a controversial manner during India’s second innings against Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) Final at the Oval on Saturday.

Australian fielder Cameron Green took Gill’s catch while his fingers were in the air. The point of discussion arose over whether the ball touched the ground before the all-rounder completed his dive.

However, third umpire Kettleborough took his time to analyse the catch from multiple angles before giving Gill out in a controversial manner.

The decision irked Indian fans and several experts who expressed their resentments on the stands and over various social media platforms.

Indian fans’ ‘hate relationship’

Well, Indian fans have a hate relationship with Kettleborough for a long time. They feel that Kettleborough has always been proved as a bad omen for the Men in Blue. The reason behind the happiness of Indian cricket fans is that Kettleborough was the on-field umpire in almost all of India’s knockout matches in ICC tournaments that they ended up losing since 2014. 

As per a statistics posted on Twitter by a fan, India lost in 2014 World Cup final, 2015 World Cup semi-final, 2016 World Cup semi-final, 2017 Champions Trophy final and 2019 World Cup semi-final as Kettleborough was the umpire in all those matches.

Moreover, Indian cricket fans were on cloud nine when International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the list of the umpires for both the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 and Kettleborough was not included in the list.

Mini controversy

Kettleborough, who was one of the on-field umpires in England’s Test against Pakistan at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in 2020, had got involved in a controversy. During the first session of the match, he was seen wearing a smart watch. Soon after realising the error, he took it off and didn’t use it.

Subsequently, it was reported to ICC’s anti-corruption unit (ACU) as well. The ACU spoke to Kettleborough regarding the error and made him aware of the obligations under the Player and Match Officials Area Regulations (PMOA). It was a violation of the regulations. However, no action was taken against him.

In another controversial incident, Kettleborough missed a day in a Test match between India and Sri Lanka due to throat infection.

Umpiring career

Kettleborough made his international debut as an umpire in a T20I between England and Australia at Manchester on August 30, 2009. His first ODI was also on the same tour on September 15, 2009 at Nottingham.

Kettleborough was promoted to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires just two years later in 2011.