Billy Bowden never one to shirk limelight

Get past the eccentric behaviour and you'll discover Billy Bowden is one of the best in the business. Picture / Reuters

These are fascinating times for Brent "Billy" Bowden, the extrovert New Zealand official who likes to polarise the game with an umpiring routine straight out of the Ministry of Silly Walks.

From the day he set foot on the New Zealand domestic circuit to the past month's performance in the Ashes series, the elaborate Aucklander has never shirked the limelight and, on present form, seems unlikely to become shy and retiring in the near future.

If anyone doubted this, they only had to follow his antics at the end of the thrilling second test at Edgbaston last week, when our Billy cunningly tried to souvenir the match ball for his own benefit.

It was one of those head-shaking times when even his most ardent supporters must have been wondering how he could make so many brilliant judgments on the field, and so many howlers off it.

And that, in a nutshell, is the paradox that is Brent Fraser Bowden.

If it was just about his decision-making as an umpire, he would be almost unanimously regarded as one of the world's best two or three officials, with Australia's Simon Taufel and Pakistan's Aleem Dar.

But when you add his hammed-up signals and a slightly inappropriate predilection towards hoarding match memorabilia, it seems that his support base is diluted and his value is diminished.

This was never more evident than after the gut-wrenching finish in the second test, when he descended on the jubilant England huddle and asked an understandably distracted Geraint Jones to hand over the ball.

One could imagine Bowden's official scrutineers pulling out their hair when they received this news, and wondering afresh when he might start acting like a neutral and unaffected umpire, rather than a starry-eyed fan.

It's hardly the first time that Billy's been fingered.

In Steve Waugh's farewell test last year at Sydney, he captured a souvenir stump and then hugged the Aussie skipper so hard it looked like he might be trying to make off with him as well.

New Zealand will be cringing about what he might want to bring home with him when the Ashes is over. Shane Warne's text-message list, perhaps? Steve Harmison's slower ball? Maybe the Edrich and Compton Stands?

Herald columnist Chris Rattue mentioned this week that he'd concluded, based on his own dealings with Bowden (including a call from the umpire to ask if he had any complimentary Super 12 tickets), that Billy was a "keen hunter and gatherer".

Talk about understatement. If Bowden carries on the way he's been going it should take him no time at all to eclipse Sir Richard Hadlee as New Zealand's greatest collector of memorabilia and, by definition, the creator of the biggest shrine to himself.

And then there's that business about Billy's wonky finger, all curled up and disfigured because of rheumatoid arthritis, which he claims prevents him from straightening it in the conventional manner.

But there he was on the last day at Old Trafford, waving his out-stretched digit at England paceman Simon Jones, with little or no sign of impediment, while warning him for running on the pitch.

Then an hour later, in the most dramatic moment of the test and with all eyes fixed on Billy, Ricky Ponting was sent packing with a finger so floppy it looked as if it needed a dose of Viagra.

Maybe an interview with an online magazine a couple of years ago gets nearer the truth. Billy, asked about his dodgy hands, reportedly replied: "I've used the crooked finger since 1996, and I've kept it going as my style. It's about 50/50 reality-show."

Whatever the truth, the fact remains that when you strip away his silly affectations and judge his officiating in black and white, Billy usually gets it right when it counts, and was on top of his game in both the second and third tests.

A Baptist minister's son who often talks about himself in the third person, he umpired impressively in the Edgbaston cliffhanger and again in the last-ball tension at Old Trafford.

There will be those who point to the plumb lbw he turned down off Brett Lee at Birmingham and the rough treatment he meted out to Shane Warne, but in terms of human decision-making (rather than video-assisted hindsight) he's had a first-rate series.

As for the latest criticisms, admittedly mostly from disaffected Australians, Billy's unlikely to be cowed by the experience and is almost certain to back himself and carry on regardless.

"No one likes criticism," he told the Herald a while ago. "I've found it hard but I've become more used to it over the years. It's a matter of looking on the bright side of things and trying to enjoy life.

"Billy's always found a bit of room for fun."

BILLY BOWDEN

Born: April 11, 1963

First-class debut: 1992/93

ODI debut: NZ v Sri Lanka 1994/95

ODI matches: 42

Test debut: NZ v Australia 1999/00