Monday, May 24, 2010

International Cricket Council & Technology

Cricket has entered into a new era where staid white apparel has been replaced by colourful jerseys, and white ball and pink ball have been substituted for red-ball. Over the past five years, the face of cricket has changed as has the technology used in the game.
It has been over five years since technologies such as Snickometer and SkyScope/Hawk-Eye have been introduced into the game of cricket, however, such technologies are yet to be permanently implemented to aid umpires in making decisions on the field. Even though tennis, soccer and basketball employ these technologies to further develop these sports, cricket authorities (namely International Cricket Council (ICC)) continue to insist that these technologies are not effective enough to use in the game of cricket. In 2007, the ICC Cricket Committee decided against recommending a trial of the use of player appeals to the TV umpire in the ICC World Twenty20 2007 World Cup in South Africa. Instead, it suggested scrutinising the system in as many countries as possible to evince further evidence of its effectiveness. Currently, player appeals to the TV umpire are being used in the domestic competition Friends Provident Trophy in England, UK. As a matter of fact, this is not the first time referrals have been tried. They were first evaluated back in the 2002 Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, although only for lbws and to judge whether a catch carried. However, during that experiment it was the umpire who asked for the TV replay.
My thoughts on this are that if the on-field umpire has a slightest of doubt while giving any sort of decision, be it a catch out, or LBW, or stumping, absolutely anything and everything should be referred to the third umpire so that the game is carried out in a fair & a just way and there is more perfection in decision making. The ICC should make full use of the available resources and use them whenever and where ever needed.
Sometimes I seriously fail to understand the reason behind not using the available resources and then cribbing about ‘umpires are after all humans’ thing. It would be greatly appreciated if someone gives an appropriate & a valid reason regarding this loop hole created by the International Cricket Council.