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Should cricket umpires make way for more technology?

Australian captain Steve Smith chatting to the umpires. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Rookie
7th January, 2018
13

The front foot no ball has cost England some crucial wickets in this Ashes series, with Tom Curran and Mason Crane in particular dismissing batsmen only to find they had stepped over the line in crucial moments.

With this comes the question: why isn’t the umpire calling the front foot no balls?

I am no umpire – I must state at the beginning I have a lot of respect for the umpires who conduct our games – but there needs to be something done when we review the front foot post-dismissal when the fielding or batting team has not requested a review.

I can already hear people say, “Well, put your foot behind the line and this won’t matter”. This is true but, like anything, if you don’t think you are doing anything wrong and you are never told otherwise, why change what you are doing? The front foot doesn’t get checked in any cricket other than international games, so why are we doing it for this version only?

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Umpires have never been under so much scrutiny in the modern game. The decision review system (DRS) ball tracking, snicko – the umpires cannot escape. Overall I’d give the umpires a pass mark for the Ashes, but I don’t think the game can go forward with the process of a batsman being given out only for the front foot to be checked, a no ball discovered and the batsman called back. It has to be one way or the other.

The current system doesn’t benefit anyone. The bowler could have bowled numerous front foot no balls prior to an important delivery, and when the ball comes he is signalled for a no ball despite the fact he has landed in the same spot for the last however many deliveries. This isn’t fair on the bowler or the fielding side.

The bowlers are being coached subconsciously that the deliveries they are bowling abide by the rules and the requirements of a fair delivery. Here are a couple of thoughts thrown around by some players yesterday in the change rooms.

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Option one, which I think is the most relevant, would be for the umpire to take more initiative on the front foot calls and that the umpire cannot check the front foot post-dismissal unless DRS is called for. This is how the game has been conducted for most of its history, so it’s not a massive change for this to occur. According to the rules this should already be occurring. I suggest eliminating the checking of the front foot unless a review by either side is called.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Option two is that every single ball is reviewed and the umpires don’t focus on the front foot and instead monitor the rest of the game. I am afraid this is where the game is going. This could be similar to the foot fault in tennis. This could be something like a buzzer going off in the umpires microphone as the foot lands over the line. I don’t think this is the answer, as bowlers will continuously push the boundaries of where they can bowl from and the role of the umpire will slowly become limited with each bit of technology that is brought in.

Technology in the game of cricket does have its benefits – I don’t think there many arguing against that – but there has to be a definitive limit so that the umpire still has a role in the game which isn’t just assessing if a wicket has been taken. It’s only crueling bowlers and costing teams in big moments of the game.

Umpires are called to adjudicate the game, and the front foot at the moment is being left to technology, which isn’t fair to the bowlers in the current series. Is it just a fad of the series, or are some umpires getting into a habit of relying on technology to help them make their decisions?

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