Wisden Overview
Stockily built with reassuringly rounded features and a wispy white beard, Dave Orchard is the second-most experienced Test umpire in South Africa, behind his elite-panel colleague, Rudi Koertzen. Quite apart from his physical presence, Orchard's respect stems from a successful first-class career as an allrounder for Natal in the 1960s and 1970s, and an instinctive feel for the game that puts players at ease, even if his blunt manner can sometimes rub people up the wrong way, as Maurice Odumbe, Kenya's captain, found to his cost. During a one-day match in Kimberley in 2001-02, Odumbe declared that Orchard was "not friendly", and was promptly landed with a two-match suspension for dissent. Although umpires, like wicketkeepers, are best remembered for their mistakes, Orchard's gaffes have been particularly noteworthy. In his very first Test - South Africa v England at Cape Town in 1995-96 - he first failed to give Graham Thorpe out when a direct hit shattered his stumps, but then compounded the error by bowing to pressure from Hansie Cronje - via the hoots of derision from the hospitality boxes - and calling for a belated replay. And during the NatWest Series in England in 2002, he managed to miss the opening overs of one match, after assuming that it was a day-night affair. Andrew Miller