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These days two aspects annoy me in cricket. Firstly, international cricketers bowling so many no-balls. The other is the escalation of the review system and the replacement of umpires by video referee.
Back on no-balls. You may forgive an express fast bowler delivering at 150 kph on rare occasions crossing the line.
But the fact is – even medium-pacers and spinners do it! Spinners?? They are professional sportsmen who have coaches.
If a batsman makes one mistake he could be out. But one can bowl three no-balls in an over and still continue bowling. Free hits are deterrent in limited-overs games but in Test matches you can bowl no-balls nonchalantly.
Secondly, at times umpires can’t make up their mind and go to the TV umpire to check whether the ball was a legitimate delivery. Especially, when a batsman gets out to a borderline delivery.
Can’t we have a system when a bell or siren rings when a bowler crosses the line? There could be problems here as the delivery is considered legitimate if a part of the foot is within the crease. But some system could be devised in this age of super technology.
This brings me to the point. A serious point. The main point.
Are umpires on their way out? Will they be redundant by 2020? They count six balls efficiently. They give correct decisions about 95 percent of the time but the players go for referrals, just in case.
It slows down the game although spectators enjoy repeated replays with the new-fangled technologies strutting their stuff. But for how long will we see such interruptions?
Referrals are for rank bad decisions. But batsmen and bowlers/fielders put their fingers under the arms of their other hand demanding a “review” almost every time a decision goes against them.
So will a day come when every decision will be answered by technology? Will human umpires be replaced by robots armed with all technologies with replays from every angle: hawkeye, snickometer, hotspot; you name it?
Umpiring in the World Cup has run into controversy with Ireland captain William Porterfield strongly criticising umpire Asoka de Silva’s decision to give Gary Wilson out lbw despite replays showing the batsman had offered a shot to a delivery that had hit him outside the line.
Porterfield’s comments came after a match when the decision according to him cost Ireland the crucial match.
“I am still trying to understand it myself. The feedback we have got so far is that the ball hit Wilson outside the line and the umpire judged him [to be] not playing a shot. I don’t know how many people agree with that,” Porterfield said after Ireland’s 44-run loss to the West Indies.
The ball in question, delivered by West Indies captain Darren Sammy, pitched outside the off stump and cut in to hit the outside of Wilson’s front pad. Wilson was trying to nudge it but failed. The umpire thought he was offering no shot and raised his finger instantly. A surprised Wilson asked for a review.
Third umpire Bruce Oxenford told de Silva that the ball had hit outside off and would, according to Hawkeye, go on to hit the outside of the off stump.
Disappointed and confused, Wilson asked de Silva to refer the review this time. It bordered on the comical, as de Silva went back to Oxenford. In the end, de Silva stuck to his stand. Wilson charged off, furiously shaking his head.
Asked if the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) was proving to be a nuisance rather than a help, Porterfield told Nagraj Gollapudi of ESPN CricInfo that he would not blame the reviews per se.
“I would like to say it was working but if you get a decision like that then I don’t know. When you have all the technology, it is supposed to eradicate the mistakes and for me that did not happen this time.”
As if this was not enough, Ireland was fined for another offence. Apparently they had bowled an over short and as a consequence Porterfield was penalised 20 percent of his match fee while the rest of the team had to take a 10 percent cut.
The Irish eyes are not smiling but what can an umpire do? A few decades ago players complained that umpires had home team bias. So neutral umpires were introduced.
Then came TV umpire equipped with modern technologies to help out in tricky decisions and finally the UDRS. But has it helped?
The questions are: Who would like to be an umpire? Will there be umpires by 2020? Will two fully programmed on-field robots do the trick? Will science fiction solve player friction?