The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Umpires to be wired

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Umpires to be wired

LONDON: Cricket's ruling body said on Tuesday that umpires will soon be able to communicate with each other by radio, but stopped short of allowing the public and broadcasters to hear their conversations.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) decided not to emulate rugby in giving access to officials' conversations because it does not want to put extra pressure on umpires, the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed, said on Tuesday.

Speed told a news conference that trials will be held at October's Johnnie Walker Super Series in Australia, with umpires linked to each other, the third umpire, and microphones in the ground near the stumps.

The series features world champion Australia and ICC World XI teams.

``Let's get umpires used to this form of technology before we give them the added pressure,'' said Speed, speaking at Lord's at the end of a two-day meeting of the ICC's Executive Board. ``We are not going down that path at this stage.''

Changes approved

The ICC board also approved changes to one-day cricket likely to be tried out in the three-match series between England and Australia starting next month.

Under the changes, teams will be allowed a substitute to strengthen their batting or bowling. If, for example, a batsman is not used during an innings, he can be substituted to add an extra bowler.

Fielding restrictions currently in force for the first 15 overs of a 50-over match will be extended to encourage batsmen to be adventurous for longer — breathing life into the middle of an innings when some say games lose their interest.

``There are some who say the game needs to be updated and there are some who say everything's fine,'' said Speed. ``We'll trial these changes for 10 months and, if they make the game more interesting, then we'll keep them.''

Speed said there were no plans for significant changes to Test cricket, and there had been no discussion of staging a Twenty20 World Cup, despite the format's success in some countries.

New members

Meanwhile, Slovenia, Mali, Jersey and Guernsey have joined the ICC as associate members.

The ICC president, Ehsan Mani, said ICC associate members would be given $500,000 each to bankroll their participation at the next World Cup in 2007.

Several faced near bankruptcy after taking part at the last edition in South Africa.

Mani also said the ICC won't support a boycott of Zimbabwean cricket, because of the effect it would have on the 80,000 young black cricketers in the country.

``Our responsibility is to the game. It is governments' responsibility to deal with the politics,'' he said. ``When you deprive them (the cricketers) of sport, who really gets hit? It's the masses, the underprivileged.''

Bangladesh's Test status

The ICC also ruled out stripping Bangladesh of its Test status, saying it was looking at ways to assist non-performing countries to improve their playing standards.

``Clearly, the ICC does not wish to see gaps in standards resulting in mismatches on the field, but it also does not believe that punishing teams for performing poorly provides the necessary incentive to allow them to improve,'' Mani said.

He said the Bangladesh Under-19 team which visited Australia recently had performed very well beating the host teams in seven of the eight games. ``The current Bangladesh Test team is not exposed to that type of experience and it will pick up,'' he said.

Mani said it was a matter that was considered carefully by the Board, over the course of the year, through the ``Review of the Structure of Cricket'' project.

There were several options that were put forward in this project that provided alternative playing programme for all nations.

``What was never contemplated was that any country would be punished for its playing performance by being stripped of its Test status. The ICC Board is looking at ways to assist countries improve their playing standards.''

Future Tours Programme

Mani said: ``The Board is also examining in detail the option of changing the current five-year Future Tours Programme to a longer one.

``Such a change, if adopted, would ease the playing commitments on all nations, allowing them to choose how they wish to address the key issues that confront them.

``For some, this might be dealing with player workload but for others, particularly those at the bottom of the rankings, such an opportunity would allow them to identify the most effective way to improve their on-field performance. The Board will consider the issue again in October in Dubai.''

He also announced the decision to formally integrate operations of ICC and the International Women's Cricket Council to create a single international governing body for the sport.

``This is an historic move and the willingness of both the ICC and the IWCC to work together towards a common goal is, in my view, an excellent example of what good governance is able to achieve.'' — Agencies

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