It takes a calm head, a mature outlook, a steely eye, a long considered look, and yet that is still no guarantee that they will get the decision right in the DRS.
They are the umpires, the captains, the batsman, the bowler and the keeper.
They say in sales that buyers are liars. And in the land of the DRS, it might well be that everyone lies to some small degree.
Batsmen lie…”I didn’t hit it, sir!” or “I did hit it, sir” on LBWs.
Umpires lie. They put their finger up when they are not 100% certain. Benefit of the doubt sometimes goes out the window.
Captains generally are fairly circumspect, especially if they are fielding in slips where they often have no concrete idea about the decision. But they lie when telling tales about the DRS to the media…“Cripes, we get all the bad decisions with DRS! We’ve got no chance to win!”
Bowlers lie because they are flinging themselves at the crease, head jerking this way and that, and they yell out any appeal at any time and expect the decision to be theirs.
And keepers are kidding themselves if they say they know that an LBW is “plumb” or they know someone hit it, because there are bats, gloves, pads and other appendages in their line of sight.
So guess who is the only honest one in the whole bunch of them…
You guessed it, the camera and the audio. Not the computer imaging. Not the strip down the middle of the pitch. Not the laws pertaining to parts of the ball hitting the strip or the stumps. That all is subjective.
But Snicko never lies. The pictures tell a lot of stories. The guilt of a batsman. The hypocrisy of some bowlers, captains, keepers. The fallibility of umpires.
There is a certain calmness about the results of DRS in this series. There is no need to know whether someone has lied or tried to deceive an umpire. The players will be found out, but only if the technology is used.
One can afford to be smug about the result of a decision.
One doesn’t care what the decision is, in or out! As a spectator, as a lover of the game, as a writer, as a player, a coach, it simply has to be right!
If the three umpires deliberate on a close decision – any close decision – that is acceptable.
If they use any means available within the new laws of the ICC’s revised DRS (after this series), that is acceptable.
What is needed is for the umpires to take a minute and get the obviously disputed decision right. Because it is fair!
If batsmen or bowlers or the fielding team or the batting team are disadvantaged, then that is not fair!
And the only way to do that is for the three umpires to confer on any disputed appeal, view all the technology, make a decision and convey it clearly to all at the ground and on television at the same time.
After an appeal, captains can talk to umpires. Batsmen can talk to umpires. Bowlers can talk to umpires, but none of the players can decide the result of the DRS, or if the umpires want to (or don’t want to), have a DRS on a particular appeal.
The umpires will not be so egocentric or dogmatic about denying a DRS if they have any doubt whatsoever. They know that the media coverage will be very savage if they fail to use the DRS.
They can confer on the field. They can go to the video umpire. They can look at everything! That must be available to them!
When the umpires have taken their time and thought the matter through, they have 99.9% of the time got the decision right. And the batsmen or bowlers, whether they shake their head or not, know that the decision has at worst received 100% effort in getting to a fair conclusion.
Nathan Lyon wasn’t out LBW last night. Why? Because he didn’t refer!
Is that fair or right? Of course not!
The video umpire could easily have over-ruled. But he didn’t have to, under the current DRS laws.
That’s where the rules of the DRS are wrong. It can be fixed in a minute with an ounce of courage.
Forget the time. Time means nothing. Getting the decision right means everything, in all 3 forms of the game!
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
While a premature retirement isn’t the solution, he or England want, he may be forced into it if he can’t maintain a long run of matches.
England's chances of retaining the Twenty20 World Cup have been hit for six with the news Ben Stokes has opted out of selection for…
Bazball was developed as a strategy devised to use the resources efficiently rather than revolutionize the system.
England's tour of India has ended in abject fashion as the tourists were hammered by an innings and 64 runs inside three days, with…
India have bowled England out for a below-par 218 and cruised to 1-135 in reply to seize early control of the fifth and final…
