Elite umpires have double vision

Brace yourself Sheilas…….and Bruces!

The game of cricket is about to change and possibly forever. The Champions Trophy to be contested in Sri Lanka will certainly be a contest with a difference.

For the first time since the game was introduced the umpires standing in the middle will be able to refer decisions that they are not sure about. The third umpire or television umpire will arguably become the most important individual on the park. The other key component in this system will be the TV director who is responsible for the coverage. It is he who must ensure he has the correct expertise behind the cameras, video replay machines and the like, to provide the evidence.

Think about it. The laws of cricket have not been tampered with for hundreds of years and now this complex structure is being introduced in the interest of consistency. Admittedly this will be enforced during the ‘mini World Cup’ on a trial basis only and decisions will be made during and after the event to decide if it should be implemented on a full time basis.

As I write this column the ICC brains trust, the ICC elite umpires and the ICC match referees are locked in a nine-hour seminar to finalise plans. At one stage it appeared they were to proceed on this all important path without inviting a senior television representative to the meeting. They had also not considered inviting a senior commentator to the indaba. This would have lacked enormous foresight….something that the ICC has been accused of in the past on numerous occasions.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of this innovation.

On the positive side, the correct decisions will more than likely be made, eventually. You will have solved the current unenviable situation, where through referrals, the umpires standing in the middle will not be exposed, as is the case at the moment. Another probable plus is the drama that will be introduced to the spectators both watching TV and at the ground as the tension mounts and finality is reached.

On the negative side, there is a real risk of the umpires referring every single ‘tight call’ and therefore not taking responsibility. This could be a disaster and will ensure that the game becomes a laborious stop start affair. The over rates will be severely affected and general frustration will be the by-product.

My solution, and after chatting to various past players, commentators, umpires and current players in Kenya recently, is to give the third umpire similar powers to a chair umpire in tennis. He would then have the power to override a decision. Therefore in practise, if a standing umpire makes a spontaneous decision and the TV umpire thinks on the evidence he has seen that it may be an incorrect one, he grabs his walkie talkie and informs the umpire to keep the batsman there until he has video proof of a correct decision. With the ability of most television productions these days, this will not waste too much time. This does however promote one further question. How experienced and capable will the television umpires be and how much specific training have they had?

It is going to be a fascinating experience and I would also hope that with the video ‘evidence’ suddenly available an element of sportsmanship amongst the players will prevail.

Although a large number of current players that I have spoken to are against this implementation, my gut feeling is, that if handled correctly, it will advance the game as a spectacle.

Lets hope the spectacle I am talking about is not the spectacles needed by the television umpires!