By Oxy
October 27 2004

Oxys latest article takes a look at the role television has played in cricket, as well as the introduction of recent additional gadgets such as hawkeye. Its 2004 and most international matches will usually have about 25-30 cameras set up in all parts of the ground to ensure that NO piece of action is missed by the television viewers at home. Compare that to 20 years ago when you would be lucky to find more that 2 or 3 cameras set aside for a typical ‘OB’ (Outside Broadcast), and half the match would be covered by just the 1 camera!

The turning point was at the end of the 1980's -the game of cricket was losing viewers and attracted an ageing audience. The Australian television network, Channel 9, the owner of test match broadcasting rights in Australia, pioneered the introduction of advanced statistical software. In a complex yet slow moving game the further explanation and analysis provided was welcome, and the style of broadcasting changed.

The change was well received by the existing, highly knowledgeable audience and also provided a new angle for analysis during a game often viewed as difficult to broadcast. Traditional Commentators were discarded, and replaced by brash, loud mouth opinionated ex-players like Bill Lawry and Tony Grieg who cared little for tradition.

It was only after repeated calls for neutral umpires from legends such as Imran Khan and experimenting with technology, that the first instance of the ‘3rd Umpire’ was introduced into test cricket in South Africa in 1992/1993. For a decade, the role of the 3rd umpire was restricted by the ICC-to use television replays to ‘adjudicate on questions of fact but not those of speculation’. Questions of fact were defined to include run out decisions, whether the ball passed the boundary rope or carried to a fielder for a 'catch'. The third umpire was not able to comment on LBW decisions since this involves speculation as to the future path of the ball.


The fans in the ground were none the wiser, but the armchair fans (also known as ‘Armchair experts/captains/selectors) sitting in front of their TV screens were not satisfied! The ‘action reply’ or ‘slow motion’ reply pioneered by the BBC in the 1960s for their football coverage would allow for hours of speculation – ‘was it really out’; ‘did he nick it’; ‘was it hitting leg stump’. The umpire had a split second to see it and judge it. The commentators and the fans had far longer to view, scrutinise and deliver their verdict! But we all relied upon SPECULATION based on what he had seen.


BUT then it got WORSE for the umpires! HAWKEYE was born and with it, every umpire's nightmare and every commentator's dream! Channel 4 (UK) secured the rights to broadcast cricket on terrestrial television in 1999 and in 2001, they commissioned resarch and investment into technology. The man who invented Hawkeye, Dr Paul Hawkins was a Minor Counties player so had a background in cricket. He used technology originally used for brain surgery and missile tracking to track any type of bounce, spin, swing and seam, and essential PREDICT what the ball WOULD have done. It uses six specially placed cameras around the ground to track the path of the ball, from when it was released from the bowler's hand right up until when it's dead.


Now the armchair experts were having a field day-not only could they whinge about LBW decisions that had gone against them, they could bash umpires for being biased; for cheating; for being incompetent…all because a Hawkeye reply suggested that the ball MAY have clipped the off-stump. No longer does the concept of ‘the benefit of the doubt is with the batsman’ remain. The poor umpires are judged more and more in these televised days.


It is not uncommon for armchair fans to vent their anger and frustration of the thousands of internet message boards that have been set up to accommodate the demand for voicing an opinion. Most comments tend to be ‘We should have had 6 LBWs in their 1st innings, and they got 3 LBWs that weren’t out in ours’! (You can gues what Message Board has specialized in that mentality)


How are these fans so confident? Because Uncle Hawkeye told them so, and Hawkeye is NEVER wrong…or is he? Dr Paul Hawkins accepts that Hawkeye will never be 100% correct in predicting the trajectory of the ball because a computer cannot take into account what a ball is going to right at the end.


This is where the commentators have failed in their responsibility as broadcasters-by criticising umpires- the sole arbiters of the game when they cast doubt over a decision made in a split-second in the heat of the moment of a cauldron atmosphere. Of course you and I have the luxury of 40 TV reply from 40 different angles before we make our mind up.


And add into this equation the following variable: the fans does not want the CORRECT decision, they merely want the decision that favours them!!!


Hawkeye does have an equally controversial cousin- ‘Snickometer’! The system uses a microphone hidden inside one of the stumps. Sound waves detected by the microphone may be compared with known characteristics. Sharp thin peaks suggest a slight contact with a hard object such as the bat. Fatter peaks suggest contact with a pad. This system is believed to be over 99% reliable when used in conjunction with synchronised slow motion pictures. Again, commentators and fans alike will make judgement on what they see LIVE and then have the luxury of changing their minds when the ‘Snicko’ suggests that there MIGHT have been such a faint nick that not only the batsman, umpire, bowler and wicketkeeper failed to hear!!!


It’s probably too much to ask the commentators to do their job and let umpires get on with theirs. Increasingly, commentators have been overstepping their role and that is worrying as it adds fuel to the angst created in a fan who is convinced that a marginal LBW decision has just gone against his team.

Ex players such as Dennis Lillee have vehemently opposed the use of technology as it undermines the role and effectiveness of the umpires. Current umpire, ‘Billy’ Bowden has also gone public saying "How far are we going to go?...At the moment the statistics are saying that we (elite umpires) get about 92 per cent (of decisions) correct. I can say that players make mistakes, umpires make mistakes. Let's just get on and move on".


Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting agrees with Bowden. He spoke out at the recent ICC Champions Trophy and their technological innovations for judging ‘no-balls’ - "I'm not a fan of that sort of stuff," said Ponting, "It's hard enough for the umpires to concentrate on what's going on without a lot of things going off in their ears. They're under enough pressure anyway.”


And the stakes are set to rise higher. ARY Digital (Pakistan), Sky Sports(UK), Ten Sports(Dubai), Sony Entertainment, Channel 4(UK), Channel 9(Australia) and many other broadcasters are fighting lengthy court battles and investing BILLIONS to bring YOU unrivalled coverage of every game played this year and for many years to come. They have to attract a new youthful audience to the game-so they will argue that technology and innovation is an absolute essential in the way they promote the game.

And WHO will argue with them?