Douglas Sang Hue

Douglas Sang Hue

Personal information
Full name	Douglas Sang Hue
Born	(1931-10-28) 28 October 1931 Clarendon, Jamaica
Role	Umpire
Umpiring information
Tests umpired	31 (1962–1981)
ODIs umpired	1 (1988)
Career statistics
Source: Cricinfo, 10 April 2009

Douglas Sang Hue (born 28 October 1931 in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a former West Indian cricket umpire. He was a small man, around 5'4" tall, of Chinese descent.

Sang Hue umpired 31 Test matches in the West Indies between 1962 and 1981, mostly in the 1970s. His first Test as umpire, the 5th Test against India at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, in March 1962, was also the first time he had officiated in a first-class match. He stood in four further Test matches in the 1960s. Wisden called him "Quite the most professional of the umpires" standing in the series against the touring MCC team in 1967/8.

Sang Hue and Cortez Jordan were the umpires in the drawn Test against the touring England team in February 1968 at Kingston, Jamaica, the second Test of the series. West Indies were bowled out for 143 in their first innings, 233 runs behind England, and were asked to follow on. Crowd trouble started on the fourth day when Basil Butcher was correctly given out by Sang Hue, the fifth wicket to fall in the second innings with West Indies still 28 runs behind. The police used tear gas to subdue the crowd. Unfortunately strong winds blew the gas back towards the police, into the commentators' stand and then into the main pavilion, where the Governor-General, Clifford Campbell, and other dignitaries were watching the match. The match was extended by 70 minutes into a sixth day to make up for the lost time. A century by Gary Sobers set England a target of 159 to win, but the match ended with England on 68-8, still 90 runs behind.

He was the first umpire to stand in all five Tests a series in the West Indies, in the series against Australia in 1972/3. He repeated the feat in the five Tests against England in 1973/4. In 1973, Ian Chappell called him "best umpire in the world".

He was involved in controversy on the second day of the first Test against England at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad in February 1974. Alvin Kallicharran was 142 not out, with West Indies having scored 274 for 6, well ahead of England's first innings score of 131. His partner, Bernard Julien, was defending the last ball of the day, bowled by Derek Underwood. Julien played a safe forward defensive stroke, and Kallicharran walked up the pitch towards the pavilion, assuming the day's play was over. However, Tony Greig, fielding close to the bat at silly point, picked the ball up and, seeing Kallicharan out of his ground at the non-striker's end, threw down the stumps. Sang Hue hesitated, but he had not called "time", and adjudged Kallicharran run out. Controversy raged, because Alan Knott had whipped off the bails and uprooted a stump at the striker's end before Greig threw the ball: some argued that play had therefore ended before Kallicharran was run out, even if "time" had not been called. The scoreboard, having been changed to show seven wickets down, reverted to showing six. Sang Hue stood by his decision, and police were called to control the volatile spectators. After a 2½ hour meeting between the captains, the umpires, and West Indies Cricket Board representatives, the official decision was to reinstate Kallicharran, with Greig's appeal "withdrawn". After the rest day, Greig and Kallicharran shook hands in the middle of the pitch before play resumed on the third day.

In the second Test against Pakistan at Queen's Park Oval in 1976/7, he refused to adjudge Roy Fredericks out when he clearly failed to make his ground, trying to make a single to complete a century.

He spent a summer in England in 1977, umpiring matches in the County Championship, John Player League and Benson & Hedges Cup. He became the only non-Australian umpire in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket later in 1977. After standing in one more Test in the West Indies, the first Test against Australia at Queen's Park Oval in March 1978, but was then dropped by the West Indies Cricket Board (although Bobby Simpson, the Australian captain, had also complained and thus prevented him standing in the fifth Test, after he no-balled Bruce Yardley for throwing in a match against Jamaica). He stood in four of the six WSC "Supertests" in Australia in 1977-8, and two of the five in 1978-9, including the Final, together with the five "Supertests" and three out of 12 ODIs in the WSC tour of the Caribbean in 1979.

He returned to stand in three Tests of the 1980/1 series against England.

He umpired only one ODI match, the first ODI between West Indies and Pakistan at Sabina Park in March 1988.

References

• List of Matches from CricketArchive
• Profile from Cricinfo