Retired players should take up umpiring : Jones

Melbourne, Feb 12 (UNI) After the shocking blunders by the umpires in India's ongoing tour of Australia, former players should come and take up umpiring to improve the declining standard of on-field officials, said former Australian cricketer Dean Jones.

''The best umpires, probably apart from Simon Taufel, are the guys who used to be players like David Shepherd and Dicky Bird,'' Jones was quoted as saying by 'The Daily Telegraph'.

''They are the guys who know the sights to look for and the special sounds of bats and pads and the individual sounds of different grounds,'' he said.

Veterans umpires Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzon committed poor umpiring in the recent Test series between India and Australia.

Bucknor was then removed after his mistakes outraged the Indians, while Koertzon has also come in for criticism for his blunders.

Jones felt if former players take up umpiring responsibilties on the elite panel then such errors can be avoided.

''It's time for cricket to be pro-active. We have former players Rod Tucker and Paul Reiffel in the system and we need more,'' he said.

''May be we have to go to them and get them involved for a couple of years and see whether it works,'' he added.

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