Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Are India Right To Reject The DRS?


Expert Author Lewis IrishThe arguments continue to rumble on, BCCI's (Board of Control for Cricket in India) stance against the DRS has caused much controversy since its introduction in November 2009, whatever their genuine motives are, are the BCCI (Bored Cricket Crazy Indians) right to reject the DRS technology?
I believe there are FOUR FACTORS to take into consideration before coming to any form of conclusion.
FIRSTLY, THE FANS, is it what they want?
Does the excitement caused by a referral outweigh the number of lengthy delays between each decision? I'm not sure if it does. Fans are at the ground to be entertained by a free flowing spectacle, this day in age the amount of stoppages created by technology can at times cause buffering like delays (we all hate them). Don't forget the fans at the ground, unlike the armchair viewer, do not see the 111 replays or so that are screened for each incident, they are left in the dark whilst the decision is pending.
SECONDLY, THE TECHNOLOGY ITSELF, is it really as accurate as we all think?
Without DRS the ICC calculate that 93% of decisions are correct and that with the system 98% of decisions are accurate. So the organisation that have insisted on the use of the system acknowledge that it's not 100% accurate and on average only adds 5% to the total of correct decisions. So for all the added complications that come with the referral system it's not as effective as many believe
THIRDLY, THE HISTORY OF THE GAME, is it distorted by the technology of the modern game?
Averages yielded by former batsmen and bowlers almost seem blemished; footage of past dismissals that technology says should or shouldn't have been have an adverse effect on a player's average. It's always been hard to compare the ability and averages of past and present players, but it's becoming even more difficult nowadays because ultimately the technology has such a big influence on a players figures.
Although not intentional the lack of sportsmanship, honesty and integrity that is being magnified by this new technology is quite horrifying. Gone have the days of taking the fielders word for a low catch and a batsman walking for a thin edge, everything these days is questioned. A more recent trend has occurred whereby the batsman at the non-strikers end is asking the umpire to go upstairs immediately after his partner has been given out, in the hope the bowler has overstepped.
This questioning of honest human interpretation contradicts the noble foundations the sport was built upon and again causes delays to the game.
FINALLY, THE UMPIRES THEMSELVES
The introduction of DRS has had a massive impact on their role in the game. Obviously you could argue that theoretically mistakes are more likely to be ironed out by the technology, but that is not always the case.
The system in place is still not fool proof in the sense that even when referred the final decision can still be incorrect. An example of this could be as follows.
The chirpy Graeme Swann is bowling at Australia skipper Michael Clarke on the first day of this summer's Ashes. He beats the Ozzy with a bit of drift, the ball raps the pads and Swann goes up like a jack-in-a-box with tourette's only for the appeal to be turned down. He instantly turns to the umpire and refers the decision whilst optimistically running to have a grapple of Captain Cook's broad shoulders. The third umpire has a quick (or so it should be) look on at the replays, which show that the ball has pitched in line and 49% of the ball striking the off stump. Of course as we all know, in reality had the pad not been in the way, the bails would have taken off like apache helicopters, but the original decision of notout stands. (Cue the tantrums from Swann who will now probably need one of Captain Cook's shoulders to cry on).
My point is, even with the system in place decisions are and will continue to be called incorrectly.
Where does this leave the umpires? Personally I feel they are under a huge amount of scrutiny and are being undermined and almost made redundant by the DRS system.
I don't think it will be to long before we have a bowler appealing in the direction of the 3rd umpire with his back to the on field official.
IN CONCLUSION, the small improvement that DRS brings statistically is not worth the all the harm that I believe has and is being caused to the very origins of cricket both in its ethics and in its practice. For once, I believe BCCI's stance, whatever their motives, is for the good of cricket

No comments:

Post a Comment