Players' take on white-line aid for umpires

The International Cricket Council (ICC), in order to improve the accuracy levels of umpires in adjudicating lbw decisions, has proposed to introduce white stump-to-stump lines on the pitch. Dave Richardson, the ICC's cricket manager, called it an "experiment worth introducing", and the ICC clarified that the system would first be tried out in practice matches and domestic games before being considered for international fixtures.

Opinions, of course, differ. Will the rule help the batsmen, who will suddenly know with a greater degree of certainty where their off stump is? Or will it aid the bowlers, who can now merely aim for the white line? The umpire's job would be easier, but the lines represent yet another attempt to chip away at his discretion and authority. Wisden Cricinfo spoke to the people who matter - the men in the middle.

Sanjay Manjrekar - former Indian middle-order batsman, and currently a commentator
The white lines make the game easier for everybody concerned. They will definitely make it easier for the umpires to make lbw calls, but they will also enable the batsmen to judge the line of the ball easily. What must also be remembered is that the bowlers will benefit too, because they will now be able to see where to pitch the ball and aim at the stumps. So the tramlines will make the jobs of all three parties easier, and it remains to be seen whether the ICC will take the decision to do so.

Also, television dictates quite a bit of what happens in the game today, so it may even influence the decision if the lines don't look good in the TV picture. But regardless, the ICC is trying out the experiment slowly at minor levels of the game, and if you want my opinion, I think it will get squashed before it gets to the international level.

Anil Kumble, Indian legspinner
I don't know how visible these lines would be on the pitch and how exactly they are going to draw the lines. As long as they help the umpires and help the game, I suppose it is for the good. They [the ICC] are only experimenting with it, so I don't know whether they will implement it at international level.

For batsmen, it might help to judge where the off stump is, but it still won't be that easy for them. In cricket, the decisions even out; there are bad decisions and favourable decisions. It is important for cricket to be that way, to retain a bit of uncertainty. Everything being very precise and happening according to expectations takes away some of the charm. It all depends on how it is done. There will always be debate about height or line, and I don't think anybody will be 100% happy about leg-before decisions, white lines or no white lines. The batsman will say that it was missing leg, and the bowler will say it was hitting the stumps. So I think the debate will continue.

Peter Willey, former England allrounder, now an international umpire
Cricket's becoming a farce now anyhow. The white lines may help, but what else are we going to have? We're going to have two umpires at one end to look for no-balls? White lines like for offside in football? I think we're going a bit overboard there. Life is imperfection, people make mistakes, and the players make more mistakes than the umpires.

Trevor Bailey - England allrounder in the 1950s
The obvious thing to do is give it a trial. Try it in, say, six county matches and see if it's a success or not. That would be the obvious thing to do, but then the ICC don't always think of the obvious. I played a game at Lord's back in 1963 - I can't remember who for now - with lines down the pitch and, to be honest, it didn't make much difference then, and I'm sure it wouldn't now. It may possibly favour the batsman regarding their positioning at the crease, but any decent bowler should be able to bowl the damn thing straight without the help of lines. However, it could be a good thing for the umpires, so give it a trial and see what happens.

Angus Fraser - former England bowler, and currently a journalist
I'd be very surprised if this ever became a permanent feature of international cricket. It's certainly not going to happen straight away, and I have to say I'm not in favour of it. It just isn't necessary. The players are the most important people on the pitch and this idea is primarily an aid to the umpires, which I don't think is right. While the players are happy with the state of the game at the moment, the media want to form a game with no mistakes in it at all - imagine how dull that would be. Rather than being an advantage for the batsman, it would be more of a distraction. They get ruffled enough if a sightscreen is in the wrong place, so a white line in their eyesight will just be something else to distract them. From a bowling point of view, it's a good practice drill to use lines on the wicket, but you don't need them for the real thing.

Bob Woolmer - former England batsman and South African coach
I have to say it's pretty close to my idea. It's not really a thick white line painted on the pitch. What you do is take a piece of string, dip it white paint and pin it on pitch on the line of the stumps so that it leaves a very faint, but clearly identifiable line. I wouldn't worry too much about it helping the batsman or the bowler - I used this in coaching bowlers and it's debatable whether it gave them an advantage - but umpires are the ones who need to be helped, and wouldn't it be wonderful to help them judge the leg-stump line clearly?