Titans captain Dean Elgar sprang to the defence, to some extent, of umpires Adrian Holdstock and Shaun George after Sunday’s One-Day Cup final at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

The fixture, which the Titans won by 135 runs on the back of a fine century from middle-order batsman Aiden Markram, was lined with umpiring errors.

Dolphins captain Khaya Zondo and all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, for example, were given out lbw despite inside edges. The Titans top-order batsmen, meanwhile, survived some tight lbw appeals.

‘The umpiring has been great until the final, we’ve never had a bad game this season, so it’s just unfortunate that it happened in the final. But the umpires are not machines,’ Elgar was quoted as saying by the Citizen.

‘They are allowed to make mistakes as well, although it’s a bit disappointing they didn’t have their best game in the final. But that’s cricket.’

While third umpire Bongani Jele was deployed for run-outs, the decision review system (DRS) is not used for lbw decisions in South African domestic competition.

‘I would recommend using technology in these big games just to eliminate the mistakes. It’s difficult for me to comment because I could get in trouble, but the umpires did not have a good game,’ added Titans head coach Mark Boucher.

‘But I don’t think it detracts from our victory because the Dolphins would still have needed a couple of very special knocks to chase more than 350.’

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