Hawk-Eye app to end club disputes?

The inventor of Hawk-Eye, Paul Hawkins, has developed a system for detecting edges in club cricket, using a small, attachable sensor and a smartphone app.

The sensor, which is the size of a coin, can be fixed to the back of a bat and is then able to detect vibrations, which are transmitted to the app. The umpire uses the phone's camera to record the delivery and then software matches it up to the audio to help pick up the faintest of nicks.

Hawkins, a keen cricketer himself, believes that technology could help settle disputes in the amateur game.

"It's now at an affordable level and easy enough to use that you don't need extra people there, just train up the umpires, they'd have their kits, their phones, the sensor that they'd put on the bat - and it would bring back that honesty part of the game; it can ruin an amateur-level game if someone doesn't walk and most people don't these days," he told Sky Sports. "If you've now got the technology that can take that out of the game completely, I think it's good for the game."

The sensors reportedly cost £25 (US$36) but Hawkins hopes they can be manufactured more cheaply. With the addition of a smartphone camera at square leg, it is anticipated that the system could also be used to adjudicate on lbws too.

Although, given how some national boards remain resistant to the DRS, don't expect Hawkins' latest invention to put a complete stop to arguments about batsmen walking any time soon.