{"id":155249,"date":"2026-03-20T16:43:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155249"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:43:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:43:33","slug":"mahinda-wijesinghe-pioneered-the-use-of-the-third-umpire-but-the-south-africans-obtained-icc-recognition-in-a-clear-act-of-unfair-play-and-discrimination-against-a-sri-lankan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/20\/mahinda-wijesinghe-pioneered-the-use-of-the-third-umpire-but-the-south-africans-obtained-icc-recognition-in-a-clear-act-of-unfair-play-and-discrimination-against-a-sri-lankan\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahinda Wijesinghe pioneered the use of the Third Umpire but the South Africans obtained ICC recognition in a clear act of unfair play and discrimination against a Sri Lankan"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>AI Overview<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>While Mahinda Wijesinghe of Sri Lanka is widely acknowledged as the person who conceptualized the third umpire, the system&#8217;s official debut is historically linked to <strong>South Africa<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conceptual Origins vs. Official Implementation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mahinda Wijesinghe&#8217;s Proposal (1982\u20131984):<\/strong> Wijesinghe first proposed the use of television cameras and a &#8220;walkie-talkie&#8221; link between on-field umpires and an off-field official in an article for <em>The Island<\/em> newspaper on October 11, 1982. His concept was formally forwarded by Sri Lanka Cricket to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and discussed at the <strong>1984 ICC AGM<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Official Debut (1992):<\/strong> The system was first officially implemented in November 1992 during the <strong>India vs. South Africa<\/strong> Test series in Durban. Karl Liebenberg served as the first official third umpire, and Sachin Tendulkar became the first player dismissed using the technology.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recognition and Controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The perception of &#8220;unfairness&#8221; often stems from the delay in recognizing Wijesinghe&#8217;s role:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Delayed Credit:<\/strong> For years, credit for the &#8220;walkie-talkie&#8221; link was sometimes attributed to the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) or South Africa for their initiative in the 1992 series.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Official Acknowledgement:<\/strong> It was only after significant advocacy, including tributes from figures like Christopher Martin-Jenkins (who headlined a 1993 column &#8220;Sri Lanka the Third Umpire Pioneers&#8221;), that the ICC eventually recognized Wijesinghe as the concept&#8217;s rightful owner.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Broader Claims:<\/strong> Similar disputes exist regarding the <strong>Umpire Decision Review System (DRS)<\/strong>. Another Sri Lankan, lawyer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/04\/12\/authorship-of-umpire-decision-review-system-sri-lankan-claims-recognition-from-icc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senaka Weeraratne<\/a>, has long sought recognition for pioneering the player referral concept in 1997.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source:&nbsp; AI Overview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/X1Ktb6EMU5SFQA55V\">https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/X1Ktb6EMU5SFQA55V<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI Overview While Mahinda Wijesinghe of Sri Lanka is widely acknowledged as the person who conceptualized the third umpire, the system&#8217;s official debut is historically linked to South Africa. Conceptual Origins vs. Official Implementation Recognition and Controversy The perception of &#8220;unfairness&#8221; often stems from the delay in recognizing Wijesinghe&#8217;s role: Source:&nbsp; AI Overview https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/X1Ktb6EMU5SFQA55V<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155250,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155249\/revisions\/155250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}