Will the third umpire be able to take care of all the discrepancies the on-field umpire can’t?
MODERN technology introduced in cricket in recent times by the ICC to ease the decision making by the umpires, has its advantages as well as disadvantages. It may not be a fool proof way of making a decision but the good side of it is that at least that there is now little scope for moaning and groaning by the players. The worrying aspect of course is the falling standard of umpiring because of reliance on electronic gadgets.
Even Simon Taufel, the Australian umpire who has been voted the best umpire of the year in a recent ICC Awards ceremony, blunders on occasion. And mistakes are still being made despite the usage of Hawk-Eye and Snickometer and will be made in future.
In search of improved decision making the ICC is experimenting in the present ICC Championship Trophy by wiring-up the umpires to TV stump microphone technology and allowing the third umpire to call the no balls.
In seven of the fifteen ICC Champions Trophy matches the umpires will use earpiece which would pick up the audio sound from the stump microphone as the ball passes the batsman to pick up sounds such as faint touch of the bat with the ball in case of bat and pad call or to a catch to the wicket-keeper.
My worry is that at times the sound of hitting the bat on the ground or the pad, while negotiating a delivery, could be very similar to that of contact of the bat the with the ball and that could prove to be confusing with disastrous consequences for any team.
The umpires in the middle are also being relieved of the need to watch for or call no-balls during the tournament. This duty is now being handed over for experiment to the third umpire. He will see the two way link provided by the earpiece to inform the officiating umpire in the middle of a bowler trespassing the popping crease.
The operation manager of the ICC Dave Richardson, former South African wicket-keeper, says: “The effect of this is that the standing umpire will not need to adjust his line of sight from the bowler in delivery stride to the batsman receiving the ball. Instead, he can concentrate fully on the business end, which could provide crucial extra fractions of a second to judge whether an appeal is out or not.”
At present no-balls are called by the men in white, in the middle that gives the batsman ample time to hit the ball knowing that he cannot be given out bowled or caught. There is surely is going to be a lot of confusion in the mind of batsman, now when besides concentrating on his batting, he will miss out on the opportunity of taking advantage of a delivery which is not genuine, if there is a delay in calling a no-ball with two umpires involved in the process.
The ICC’s view on technology is that it will only be used in the decision making process if it can provide conclusive answers, is practically feasible to introduce for all international cricketers, will not effect the way the game is played or undermine or devalue the role of the on-field umpires.
The chief executive of the ICC Malcolm Speed says: “Cricket is a passionate and emotive game with a powerful element of character and personality. Umpires are part of this and the ICC has no wish to reduce their contribution by taking decision making authority away from them. I do not believe the game or its followers want to see umpires reduced to the role of white coat racks, but we will have a vested interest in trying to improve the accuracy and consistency of decision making.
“Our view is that cricket is more a difficult game to umpire than baseball, so if we want our officials to attain higher percentage of decisions we may need to provide them with greater support through extra technology and the skills of their colleagues in the third umpire’s box,” says Speed.
At the moment umpires can refer decisions for run outs, catches, stumpings and bump balls and boundaries and sixes if they are in doubt.
According to ICC performance statistics of the last 12 months show that the elite panel of ICC Umpires is operating at a correct decision rate of around 92 per cent, which compares to 94 per cent achieved in Major League Baseball.
The ICC will also be experimenting on the action of slow bowlers. High speed cameras will be placed behind the bowler’s arm and square of the wicket to film slow bowler’s actions’ at 250 frames a second, which is five times faster than standard TV cameras.
The footage from both the cameras will then be combined to create a three-dimensional image of the action which can be used in considering the level of tolerance for the accepted amount of extension at the elbow, either in terms of straightening or hyper-extension of the arm.
The project is being undertaken to gather detailed data to assist address the issue of suspect bowling actions among slow bowlers.
Will the third umpire be able to take care of all the discrepancies the on-field umpire can’t?
