5 August 2007

Umpires Versus Technology

There has been alot of discussion in the cricket community over the last few years, including on this site, about the use of technology in umpiring decisions. There seems to be quite a bit of support, notably from fellow blogger Ed, for expanding the current use of technology to include such tools as hawk-eye and hotspot. I happen to take the opposite view. I believe the current system is about right.

It is not that I have reservations with the accuracy of the technology. I happen to agree that Hawk-Eye is more accurate than human umpires. It might sound a strange thing to say, but this is precisely why I would prefer to leave the umpires to their own devices out in the middle. The odd bad decision has always been a part of cricket.

Alot of people may argue that the results of series, and players careers may be affected by umpiring decisions and as such, we can not afford to get them wrong. I say, who cares? A contentious decision in a close fought match only adds to the drama of the moment. It gives supporters something to argue about. A player's character can often be judged by how well or poorly he reacts to and comes back from a poor decision. In most cases, while a batsman may bemoan his luck when incorrectly given out, it is down to a poor shot that an umpire has an opportunity to give him out. If a batsman plays and misses, and is given out caught behind, should he blame the umpire, or himself for playing down the wrong line?

Despite being Australian, I am a traditionalist and I would hate to see the umpire's role diminished.

1 comment:

Ed said...

I find it hard to know where to start!! :-)

How can it be right that we accept wrong decisions as part and parcel of the game? We may as well toss a coin every time an appeal goes up! The game is meant to be one of skill - not one of luck.

As an amateur cricketer I am incensed when decisions are clearly wrong. And I am one of the calmer members of the side - believe me! When you know (as opposed to think) that someone is out, you expect that decision to be given - otherwise why bother to give up your precious leisure time? Come on Dave - you must be able to remember that sickening feeling of being given out caught behind when you didn't hit it - did you really wander of thinking "well I should have played down the correct line so it's my fault"?!

Now take that feeling and multiply it many times to what pro players must feel. It's their career on the line and that brings with it a great deal of money. I really do believe that at some point, a legal case will be made by a player who believes he has suffered loss of earnings because of wrong decisions.

Finally, there is the issue of walking. I realise that no-one walks these days, Adam Gilchrist aside. But that would stop immediately if the batsman knew he'd be given out anyway based on the TV replay. We then get to find out who really was the better side, rather than who was the luckier.

As a supporter of the best cricket team in the world you should want the best team to be proven the best team surely, not open up the game to chance based on wrong umpiring decisions?

Cricket Burble is all about opinions, but we have completely opposing ones on this!