Time to strike back for the umpires

Even ‘Blind Freddy’ can tell that something urgently needs to be done about the sub-standard umpiring that is plaguing the game at the moment.

Due to the various television channels and production companies competing with each other and introducing brand spanking new high-tech gizmos, the end result is that the viewer at home knows more than the umpire. This simply won’t do and often exposes the man in white who has all sorts of pressures to cope with.

The fact that the select panel who recently sat to debate the pros and cons of further introduction of technology decided against any advancement, defies any logic in my view. This decision was even more astounding when you consider that the likes of such legends as Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border and Zaheer Abbas were some of the decision makers. Just to rub salt in the wound, a week later we witnessed the debacle regarding the no-balls in the second Test between England and Pakistan where four of the last five England wickets were taken off illegal deliveries.

Eddie Barlow would have no doubt suggested that ‘Mother Cricket’ was teaching them a lesson!

Darrell Hair was the guest umpire who advised the panel on his thoughts regarding further assistance – and he also voted against. He, especially, should have realised that any further help for umpires can protect careers!

In my opinion the crux of the matter is this. We have no choice but to take this brave step for the sake of the game and the ICC needs to take a stand for once. Have you heard that before?!

Now it is all very well sitting at home in your favourite armchair checking out the action in the best possible viewing spot with myriads of information coming your way and lamenting the decisions, but there is more to it.

For you to be fed with all the fascinating innovations on show, there is a serious cost implication. For example, the superb Hawk Eye missile tracker that Channel Four use requires ten static cameras to work efficiently. They actually employ some 38 cameras these days for their coverage. Normally a production team for international cricket uses just ten cameras in total!

As you can imagine the overall costs are enormous. Unfortunately as we stand at the moment not all Test playing countries have those budgets to work with.

Here comes the ICC’s job. They must find an international sponsor, ideally in the technology business, who is willing to assist in funding this project to overcome this obstacle that is hindering cricket. Think about it, the exposure for some company worldwide would be substantial.

With the correct backing, this new technology would be implemented in all Test cricket-playing nations and the game would have overcome another hurdle.

We would then be in a position for the third umpire to be fed with all sorts of spontaneous information to enable the correct decisions to be consistently made.

Isn’t that all that we as players, umpires and spectators are craving for?