Chris Gayle bashed by lack of technology

A Monday night game when I don't care who wins has got me in. Watching more games than I thought I would. Its great to see the old guys. Rather than imports, I would prefer "mature" Australians topping up their Super Funds. Mark Waugh says show me the money! You should be happy with those wanting to help out with your dogs/ horses? If more teams. Split the divisions. If you get more games the novelty value will wear off. Technology - Gayle puts bums on seats. Ordinary decision. Hope the third ump is off to Dubbo with the U16 c grade at Apex Oval.

They do double headers already for Perth, but that's only 3-4 games a year so there's a lot more double headers that need to be scheduled if each team playys 3-4 games a week. Besides that's more out of nescessity due to the time difference then anything else. The Perth home matches don't rate as well as the others because of the time difference. Travel is also an issue if they're going to play so many games in such a short space of time. It's a pretty big country and I'd hate to be playing for Perth or Hobart with that kind of travel schedule. Besides Foxtel want as many games as possible to be in prime-time which means 6-9 or 7-10. Night matches simply get more viewers then day matches, which is where the big $$$ come from.

Fitting in double headers is easy enough if one of the games is in perth. You could also do double headers on Sat Sun - a 4-7 game a 7-10 game. Some (esp those with kids) would like the 4-7 game on a Sat or Sunday evening.

Should we really expect anything more from this competition? After all, it doesn't matter who wins as long as someone's out there bashing the ball over the fence. The biggest error was that the umpires shafted the headline act.

Astounding what Nine does for some sports and not others... Well, they know how to do cricket right, that's for sure. Bit rough on the poor third umpire to have to work without the tools, but that's life I guess!

I agree, we won't hijack Lordy's topic here, but I have a slightly different view on umpires having all technology available...

Seemingly nobody knew about the review system in the BBL> The commentators were very surprised when it wwas first used! You're right, if you're going to use the referral system make sure you have the best technology. The reason others weren't referred was because the umpires didn't think it was nescessary, though that then leads to questions about the umpire. I don't want to highjack David's article too much, nor reignite a topic that was done to deatch 3 weeks ago, but my main issue with umpire controlled DRS (apart from the inconsistent referrals evidenced in the BBL) is that we'll see what happens in the NRL, or for run-outs, where umpires use the video for almost every decision no matter how obvious, which slows the game down even more and just gets frustrating. I think it was Dhoni in the Boxing Day test who had a run-out referred after a 10% appeal from Haddin. Replays showed that not only was Dhoni's bat behind the stumps line, but his whole body was behind the crease line. If an umpire needs to go to the 3rd umpire for that then I'd start to question whether they're still capable of doing the job!

As the HotSpotInventor I need to fill in a few gaps as to why the technology is not being used for the BBL. My company BBG Sports has an exclusive agreement with Channel 9 to supply our Hot Spot system ONLY to them within Australia. Considering we also have a patent on this product within several countries including Australia it will be difficult for other broadcasters to implement a system without Channel 9 and BBG's approval. Some would say why the heck would we do this and the answer is simple. Channel 9 have supported all of our technology endeavours over the past 13 years since we implemented our radar speedgun system for them in 1999. They are always looking for new ways in which to entertain their viewers and are never scared about taking a few risks in order to try and fine some GOLD for their broadcasts. In my opinion, Ch9 are the best in the business. Ch9 also purchased the Snickometer IP for Australia from the original inventor many years ago.

Fox Sports will ensure this doesn't happen. They don't more then one game on per day. In order to do this you'll need to play 2 games at the same time (which Fox Sports won't do as it splits their audience or means they show less games) or you have to fit the other game in a different timeslot (i.e. not the current 7-10pm slot.) Games would have to be played either during the day (eg 4pm,) which is a bad time for crowds especially during the week, or after 10pm which will mean games won't finish until at least midngiht so would only work if it was in Perth. Besides both would mean fewer TV viewers anyway.

Matt, those circumstances were and are very confusing. For starters, I can't think of any other occasion in the BBL where replays have been used like this, I didn't even know they COULD be used. And then when they were used, it was hardly conclusive evidence to decide one way or the other. If it's a local BBL playing condition, that's fine, I can live with that, but then why weren't replays looked at for the other similar appeals? That's where the head-scratching starts for me. But I'm not sure it is evidence referrals work better in the hands of player. To be honest, I'd still rather the umps are the ones calling for the check of Hotspot, etc. I think that gives the umpires the confidence to control the game, without having to worry about players disagreeing and going over their heads, which is essentially what DRS allows..

Yeah that was one helluvan over by Starc. He'd already taken two wickets and been hit for 4 from memory.

Very true Brett. The same thing happened in the Thunder/Sixers game on Sunday as well. One ball an appeal for caught behind is turned down, replays showed a noise but not referred. The very next ball the batsman was given out caught behind but was referred and replays showed the ball hit his hip. The lack of technology being used is one issue, but the bigger issue is the inconsistency of the referrals. On a broader scale, is this evidence why the DRS works better in the hands of the players, rather then the umpires, which is the alternative that some have suggested?

Nah Chris I think BBL in the school holidays is smart. maybe it needs to start a couple of weeks earlier, and be more condensed though. It's not like the teams couldn't play every 2nd day - so 3-4 games a week.

Agreed. But all in all CA should be congratulated for a good first season of the revamped competition. They haven't got everything right, but that's OK, it's only the first season. As you point out, crowds and ratings have been above expectations and it's hard to argue against that. I know there's a whole bunch of whinging going on by traditionalists about team names and colours and so on, but please - this isn't a traditional form of the game! The hardest thing will be to get the scheduling right, and I'm not sure there's an easy solution to this. Putting aside crowds, I would hold the BBL from the start of Feb into the middle of March, which would allow the Shield games to continue during the Test series. That works better from a cricketing perspective. But CA's decision to hold the BBL over the holiday period appears to have paid off at the turnstiles, and they're unlikely to mess with a successful formula.

Hi David, like many I'd imagine, I was somewhat stunned that the 3rd umpire could step in like he did on Gayle. But whatever technology was in use or not (and there's only limited numbers of IR Hotspot and super-HD Eagle Eye cameras available, all of which would currently be in Perth), the biggest issue coming out of this game was why the replays weren't similarly used for dismissals preceeding and following Gayle's wicket. The Fox commentators expressed similar views on the one that followed Gayle's, with Brendan Julian saying "you've got to give that out, if Gayle's was out.."