Time to make better
use of Third Umpire

THE SPORTS EDITOR: The appointed panel of the world’s most competent umpires continue to make terrible errors of judgment in Test and One-Day International matches, seemingly without complaint from appropriate quarters.

Too often such errors tend to influence the result of a match, not to mention the feeling of disgust in the minds of the captain and affected batsman of bowler. Clearly these umpires need assistance which can be provided by the Third (TV) umpire.

The ICC may wish to consider a review of the system and introduce measures to extend the use of the existing technology.

I suggest that such a move will be welcomed by all concerned, and the changes will be much less controversial than the complicated, incongruous Duckworth/Lewis system currently employed to determine results of weather affected One-Day international matches.

To give the presiding umpire the authority to call upon the Third Umpire for assistance in the case of problematic appeals for caught behind, bat/pad catch, leg before wicket, tumbling catches, and any other, will not necessarily involve a waste of time.

Since the umpires involved are regarded as the best in the world I cannot see them abusing the privilege, and more often than not it would take merely a few seconds to secure the third umpire’s decision.

Perhaps a few relevant quotes from my recently published handbook Captaincy in Cricket would be useful:

“Up to the time of writing (2001), available technology has not been utilised to the extent possible and perhaps necessary...has the time come for a review of the system and for a revision of the Laws of Cricket?

“In the meantime the ICC may direct and encourage the presiding umpire to call upon the Third Umpire in every case in which the former thinks an appeal deserves such consideration.

“For example as recently as during the West Indies 2000/01 tour of Australia, instant TV replays convinced me, before the end of the Third Test match, that at least 12 significant errors of judgment were made resulting in various degrees of reaction by the affected players.

“These errors or most of them could have possibly been avoided if the presiding umpire(s) had called upon the Third Umpire for assistance.

“The alternative may well be pressure from international bodies for the senior batsman at the wicket or the fielding captain (as the case may be) to be allowed to request such a call in appropriate cases.” I hope that the ICC will consider the above suggestions to the benefit of cricket worldwide.

In the meantime, the ICC may find it useful to withdraw the services of those umpires who are guilty of errors of judgment too frequently for the good of the game.

Remembering that, “An umpire is the only single person who can make or ruin a game of cricket” — John Arlott in his foreword to Tom Smith’s Cricket Umpiring and Scoring.

Fyzul Hassanali
Santa Cruz