FORMER Zimbabwe international cricketer and current SOGO Rangers coach, Gary Brent, was caught up in controversy on Wednesday after clashing with a female scorer during his team’s first defeat of the National Premier League (NPL) season against Eastern Titans at Old Georgians, Harare.
The incident unfolded when Brent stormed over to the scorers’ desk, visibly upset about a decision involving a disputed boundary call.
According to the scorer, the disagreement began after she acknowledged a bye signalled by the umpire.
“So it happened that we acknowledged a signal from the umpires, it was just a bye,” she explained.
“So we acknowledged the bye and then I think about two overs thereafter, this coach comes and then he’s like, did you guys notice that you missed a four on that bye? It was supposed to be four byes. Then I said, unfortunately sir, we only acknowledged a bye signal.”
The scorer was firm that her duty was to follow the umpires’ signals, not her own judgment.
“There wasn’t any other signal that comes with it and I would have acknowledged twice because it’s two distinct signals,” she said.
When Brent pressed further, she insisted the decision was correct.
“No, unfortunately if it were four byes, we wouldn’t have had the same, we wouldn’t have had a different batter on strike. Meaning if it’s a four, you would have the same guy finish that over because it puts him back on strike,” she said.
She said she felt disrespected by Brent’s approach, particularly because coaches are not permitted to confront scorers during a match.
“Then he came in and he said, but did you miss, you saw that you missed it, that ball went for four byes… And then I said, no sir, unfortunately, I’m really sorry but even if you saw the four and the umpire doesn’t signal it, according to our laws, we don’t follow what we see, we follow what is signalled by the umpire.”
She added, “Then he said, oh, but no, no, that is not right. You must use your common sense, use your common sense… Then I said, so you cannot come and ask me to use my common sense because I follow, what is expected of me is that I signal, I confirm with what the umpire gives me and that is what I take, the rest is what I see.”
Despite the off-field drama, Eastern Titans went on to hand SOGO Rangers their first defeat of the season. Rangers, however, remain top of the NPL standings, level on points with defending champions Takashinga Patriots but ahead on net run rate.
When reached for comment after the match, Brent offered only a brief response: “I’m sorry, no comment.”
Brent, now 49, represented Zimbabwe in 4 Tests, 70 ODIs and 3 T20Is before moving into coaching.
