May 9, 2006

Questioning the decision of the Umpire...

Tampering or selective control? from Cricinfo

It is next to impossible to prove - one way or the other - Bucknor's charge that television producers are deliberately making umpires look bad, and also influencing the decision-making process by showing replays of only certain angles, selectively leaving out others. But, the fact that he has made these statements has brought to the public domain something many have suspected for some time now.

In all this, umpires around the world were keen to keep a low profile. When contacted Simon Taufel and David Shepherd declined to comment, while Rudi Koertzen was unreachable.

The International Cricket Council, who have strict guidelines on the matters their members are allowed to comment on, didn't have much to add either. Brian Murgatroyd would only proffer "no comment" when attempts were made to get a reaction to Bucknor's statements, but he and his team certainly have plenty to think about now.

Maybe Bucknor's comment has opened a can of worms but I think that there is an angle that we are not looking at is that the responsibility of an appeal against the decision of the umpire is the players responsibility... It is something like the walking when you are out. If walking when you know you are out is commendable so is asking to be able to stay when you are not. But yes we will have to look at the technologies that are being used to make the final decision before completely relying on it.

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