Umpires to get the human touch
The ICC's Cricket Committee - Management (CC-M) has decided to recommend the appointment of three independent assessors to rate umpires
S Rajesh
19-Sep-2003
The ICC's Cricket Committee - Management (CC-M) has decided to recommend the appointment of three independent assessors to rate umpires. Currently, Tony Crafter, the former Australian international umpire, is the only man who performs that duty. Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, outlined a couple of other measures taken by the ICC to bring about more consistency in umpiring standards.
"The committee has resolved to appoint an umpires' coach and a high-performance manager for umpires. Currently, there is a detailed assessment process for the umpires - the captains, the match referee and by an independent assessor who sits at Lord's and reviews each decision taken by the umpire. The committee has resolved that we need more of those, and we will go from one to having three, as we want to be able to scrutinise the decisions of the umpires more effectively, with a view to producing better and more consistent umpires."
Speed insisted that technology would, for the moment, only be used for line decisions. "Cricket is a game played by humans and the ICC believes that it should be umpired by humans. We do not want our umpires to become coat racks and, at this time, we believe that the use of technology in international cricket has gone about as far as it can go at this stage.
"We will continue to examine the options that technology provides, but it will not be introduced into the game where it diminishes the role of the umpire, cannot provide definitive answers or when it cannot be used across the cricket world."