Quietly efficient

Amid all the excitement surrounding the historic series between Pakistan and India, one group of people have been largely forgotten - the umpires.

Simon Taufel, the Australian who officiated in the first two matches, told the Sydney Morning Herald of the problems he encountered. The main difficulty is the noise - and it's not only the umpires who struggle, as proved on Tuesday when Sourav Ganguly clearly edged the ball but such was the cacophony that neither bowler nor wicketkeeper appealed.

"From an umpiring perspective, it's very difficult and challenging," Taufel explained. "Umpiring before 75,000 at the MCG is nothing like here. The fans go nonstop. When the person they love comes out the noise is immeasurable.

"That makes umpiring bloody difficult, especially when it comes to caught-behinds and communicating with other officials. It's nothing you could ever train for. It's very hard when you have one of your senses, hearing, taken away from you."

The fact that that the umpires have been ignored is probably a mark of the good work they have so far done: the effect of any howlers in these high-pressure games would be multiplied tenfold. "I've made several close calls in the two games already," Taufel smiled. "Maybe you think that you might start World War Three if you get something wrong but, on the whole, I feel very comfortable to keep calling it as I see it."