Steve Bucknor grinds out his century

Yet the mellow customer from Montego Bay saunters on, regardless of the barbs, and when he makes it 100 not out, the first umpire to reach three figures in the Test history tomorrow, we should all celebrate the integrity, honesty and excellence of the performances which have taken this remarkable 58-year-old to the landmark.

Billions of pairs of eyes and the odd technological one will be trained on him like a hawk, ready to slaughter him for any mistake. "We all make mistakes and I have too. I won't go into details, but I have twice apologisedto the players who got affected," shrugged the shy Bucknor, giving a rare audience to reporters in Kolkata. "A human being is going to err."

Yes, but in this spiteful age, so many critics of our sports arbiters have forgotten that to forgive is divine. Nobody would have blamed Bucknor for doing an Anders Frisk when, on the last day of the recent South Africa/England series, he received a threat which, even after 30 years of being harangued either as a Jamaican club football referee or an international umpire, quite took him aback.

After what by his standards was a very poor series, he and fellow umpire Aleem Dar were warned in an anonymous phone call to the Centurion ground: "We are going to get rid of Aleem Dar and Bucknor; we are going to shoot them." It prompted him to consider flying straight home. "Yet I convinced myself that I am stronger than that," he said.

So it is we now find him back in a country where his officiating is least appreciated. After a shocking lbw decision did for Tendulkar in Brisbane that was condemned throughout India as "an insult", Dilip Sardesai, the outspoken former Test star, said: "Steve Bucknor is useless. He is absolutely against India and seems to have something against Sachin Tendulkar."

Of course he hadn't - he once admitted Tendulkar was the player he loved watching most - but some believe that, after umpiring the last four World Cup Finals in an international career stretching over 16 years - Bucknor's powers have declined considerably as he's approached 60.

They suggest even his celebrated slow deliberation has begun to look more like dithering indecision. Yet that has always been Bucknor's way; the long pause, the nod, the apologetic smile and the finger; no umpire ever gave anyone out with more kindliness. "I replay the action several times in my mind before I make the decision. It's not because my brain is working slowly," he says. "Patience is a virtue for me."

Of course, Bucknor gets some wrong - Derek Pringle will still tell you his failure to give Javed Miandad out when plum lbw in Melbourne may have cost England the 1992 World Cup - but as a recent article in the Professional Cricketers' Association magazine suggests, the players feel that, after all these years, he even now gets the overwhelming majority right and is still up there among the very best.

And if the odd decision is doubted, the integrity behind the decision should never be. For the measured authority of a fellow who has done various jobs from maths teacher to hotel auditor to FIFA-qualified referee has demanded nothing but respect.

Away from the middle, he keeps quiet about his humanitarian work, helping under-privileged kids in Jamaica by funding their schooling - and their cricket. Never mind Bucknor the umpire, Bucknor the man is worth celebrating too, his friends say. Tomorrow's milestone couldn't be reached in more trying circumstances.

"The noise, the heat and humidity. Mentally and physically, it is the most demanding place to umpire," he said. "But I'll have no fear in my heart." Which is why out in the middle most Test cricketers still feel most comfortable about putting their fate in the slow hands of the umpire of the century.