A catch 22 situation

I'm in for this technology stuff. As far as I am concerned the extra work provided for the television umpire has been a welcome addition to the game. We will obviously have to wait and see the reaction of the ICC at the culmination of the Champions Trophy but already some distinct signals have emanated from cricket headquarters.

Our good old mate Dave Richardson, with his ambiguous title these days of ICC General Manager, has gone on record as saying, “Any definitive conclusions on this trial will obviously have to wait until the end of the tournament, but early figures give an interesting insight into the progress so far.”

‘Swinger’ was referring to the fact that correct decisions are being made and that on average the consultations with the television umpire have taken just under a minute. Dave will have a big say in how this experiment develops and already I get the feeling he is nailing his colours to the mast. By the way am I wrong or have I seen a few batsmen ‘walk’ for the first time in about 10 years!!!

Whilst I was in Kenya recently I had numerous discussions on this subject, admittedly over an ice cold Tusker or four, with Mike Procter, Russell Tiffen and Rudi Koertzen. The one aspect that provoked the most animated debate, not surprisingly, was the use of replays to determine whether a low catch had been taken. I feel this is the only time that pictures prove inconclusive. Time after time we have seen batsman ‘stand’ in the knowledge that he will eventually be shown the green light and allowed to continue.

Why the problem? This is a bit of a tough one to get your head around but I feel it was perfectly described by Mark Nicholas during a recent incident on the fourth day of the Test between England and India at Trent Bridge. Alec Stewart had just successfully challenged a referral after Virender Sehwag had appeared to snaffle a diving catch at slip. Mark said, “We must remember that the visuals provided at a cricket match are designed to enhance a television programme, not to assist the umpires. For one thing the cameras are not positioned at ground level and sometimes are as far away as 100 metres. The foreshortening of a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional occurrence can be further confused by magnification, which has a tendency to reduce the focus. The compressed picture has no depth and subsequently it is impossible to ascertain what is in contact with what.”

At the moment, nine out of ten of these consultations with the third umpire are given not out due to the lack of clarification of identifying specifics of the ‘catch’.

The answer in my mind is to not to rely on replays in this instance and revisit good old-fashioned values. The ICC needs to get all the national captains together and insist that for the sake of the continuity and reputation of the game, an element of trust must be reintroduced. An honest cricketer always knows whether he has conclusively caught a catch and a mere request by the batsman to the fielder should suffice for the correct decision to be made.

So far in the Champions Trophy we have been spared this controversy but with the crucial games to follow, who knows, an incident of this ilk could raise its ugly head.

Let’s hope no one gets caught out!