India in England Jun-Sept 2014

[Aalay]

Rather than talking about DRS, we should talk about how much umpiring standards have gone down recently.

 

[SaiSrini]

Right on! This feeling has been always increasing within me that ever since the DRS debate started raging between India and the rest of the world, the quality of umpiring started dipping a lot more. Is that a mere co-incidence? I would like not to believe so... These days, even average decisions are hailed as "excellent".

Excellent batting (touch wood) from Murali Vijay. He needs to keep going, and play the role Rahane played in the first innings. From an Indian cricket standpoint, I think he has done more than everything to cement his spot in the Indian test team very firmly. He seems to display technical solidity which I never thought he was capable of. I guess KP must be smiling, for he was the guy who commented positive about Vijay before this series much to the dismay of even Indian fans.

 

[MUFC1987]

What makes you guys think that Umpiring at the elite level (International cricket) is easy and should not involve any errors? I mean the elite sportsmen competing in the match make plenty of errors, yet you expect the Umpires to be perfect?

Explain that logic to me.

 

[SaiSrini]

Umpiring might not be easy in international cricket, but it should be easy enough to enforce stricter guidelines when picking umpires who can withstand the challenge of umpiring in international cricket? Umpiring is what needs to improve, if we want to bring down howlers and yet keep the human element of decision making intact.

 

[MUFC1987]

Umpiring might not be easy in international cricket, but it should be easy enough to enforce stricter guidelines when picking umpires who can withstand the challenge of umpiring in international cricket? Umpiring is what needs to improve, if we want to bring down howlers and yet keep the human element of decision making intact.

You want to reduce errors, while still having errors? So if we find Umpires that get every decision right, that's not good either? You'd rather they were kicked off the panel? That's hypothetically speaking of course, because it's impossible.

These Umpires are chosen because they are the best in the world, the others would make more mistakes. There's not a supply of Umpires stashed away somewhere in the world who are much better but just don't get picked. This is the best we have, either accept it, or find another way to make decisions.

 

[used2bcool]

.... Umpiring is what needs to improve, if we want to bring down howlers and yet keep the human element of decision making intact.

I'm sorry, but this argument holds no water for me. Yes, it would be nice to have higher umpiring standards. There's no reason to yearn for the human element of decision-making, because it's that human element that causes howlers. A system exists to keep those howlers in check and we choose not to use it out of sheer stupidity and bullheadedness. The easier solution is to accept the system, not to blame the umpires.

England's game from here on in. I would be very disappointed as an English fan if my team lost out from this position.

 

[Aalay]

India in England 2014 : BCCI questions lack of video for Anderson case | Cricket News | England v India ? Investec Test Series | ESPN Cricinfo

While players from both teams are set to provide conflicting evidence, India have requested that footage from a video camera situated just outside the dressing rooms where the incident occurred be made available.

A Nottinghamshire spokesman confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that a camera had been installed in the relevant area but insisted that it had not been active at the time.

Hah definitely something fishy going on here.

 

[SaiSrini]

I'm sorry, but this argument holds no water for me. Yes, it would be nice to have higher umpiring standards. There's no reason to yearn for the human element of decision-making, because it's that human element that causes howlers. A system exists to keep those howlers in check and we choose not to use it out of sheer stupidity and bullheadedness. The easier solution is to accept the system, not to blame the umpires.

England's game from here on in. I would be very disappointed as an English fan if my team lost out from this position.

I am not agreeing with this. That so-called system causes its own howlers. The system was brought in place to eliminate howlers. Well, it causes its own howlers, so in the end everything cancels out. And it wastes time, so from a audience perspective, I dont want it. And it costs lot of money, so from a cricket board perspective, boards might not want it. So there is no reason to use the DRS. Let a more efficient system come up, we can look into it.

Recent article: Former umpire Dickie Bird says BCCI were right about DRS
Dickie Bird says BCCI has been right on DRS

 

[namin96]

Anushka Sharma?

I am very disappointed in how Virat Kohli has been playing. He needs to think how good he played in South Africa by leaving balls alone and having good judgement of where his off stump is. I do agree that he got a great ball from Broad at Trent Bridge in the first innings and another great delivery from Anderson at Lords in the first innings, but many people expect this guy to do well with his technique on even the deadliest pitches. I do think he is really distracted by something which is causing him to lose his focus and concentration. It could be his girlfriend which is quite understandable when you have an actor as your girlfriend, but I really want to see him back in his great form.

 

[IceAgeComing]

The funny thing about DRS is that people always bring up that Khawaja incident from last year which wasn't a failing of technology; it was a very bad decision from the third umpire who should have been kicked from the elite panel on the spot for it. The personal touch is always there which can create some really impressive decisions as well as some shocking ones. The tech certainly isn't perfect; but the combination of what exists (the cameras, real time snicko/hotspot and hawkeye) I would argue cover the vast majority of grounds. The Khawaja incident simply wouldn't happen this year with the addition of snicko to DRS.

The use of technology to challenge decisions made by umpires is something that will happen to every sport in the next 10 years. Rugby Union/League have had it for donkeys years, the NFL have trialed it since the 80s and have properly used in since the 90s; Tennis has hawkeye in pretty much every major Tennis tournament and the last two big holdouts, Baseball and Football are adopting things. The important thing about all of them (bar the Tennis one) is that they have a person who sits and makes the final decision; and there are occasions when people will go and claim that the wrong decision is made, and sometimes with good cause. Here's where I could link the MLB coach who spent 10 minutes shouting in an umpires face earlier this year when a review didn't go his way but I'm not going to because I'm lazy. All review systems have their problems; but the benefits from them way, way outweigh those issues.

There is a debate about number of challenges and whatever that needs to be had as well as confirming the accuracy of some of the technology (hotspot especially, but that's a little less important now you have real time snicko which is 100% accurate by the fact that its literally amplified audio) but the fact is that the basic idea of the review system is one that is right. The idea that it has harmed the quality of umpiring is nonsense: in order to get anywhere near the elite panel you need to do a fair amount of umpiring in one of the domestic competitions, where you have no technology to help you. You still have to be a good umpire in order to get into the elite panel: although I would stay that it should be something that changes more often. Bowden is the worst umpire on it and I still think that he was brought into the panel again just to get another umpire for the Ashes since the vast majority of the panel are English or Australian.

Honestly; one thing that would drastically improve DRS without spending a penny more is to mic up the Third Umpire and have him explain the decision that he is making and why he is making it over the video footage that he is looking at and controls. They did this for the Rugby League World Cup and I think that it worked well since you know where the guy making the decision is coming from. Watch from 1:40:20 or so in this video and see how much better it is than the commentators talking over the video and generally getting it wrong.

 

[SaiSrini]

I am very disappointed in how Virat Kohli has been playing. He needs to think how good he played in South Africa by leaving balls alone and having good judgement of where his off stump is. I do agree that he got a great ball from Broad at Trent Bridge in the first innings and another great delivery from Anderson at Lords in the first innings, but many people expect this guy to do well with his technique on even the deadliest pitches. I do think he is really distracted by something which is causing him to lose his focus and concentration. It could be his girlfriend which is quite understandable when you have an actor as your girlfriend, but I really want to see him back in his great form.

Having an actor girlfriend is not the distraction. Having her along with you on tour while the media back home is having a field day writing about her presence with Kohli during this ongoing tour and about their affair in various different ways, could be a distraction.

 

[Epic]

I'm sorry, but this argument holds no water for me. Yes, it would be nice to have higher umpiring standards. There's no reason to yearn for the human element of decision-making, because it's that human element that causes howlers. A system exists to keep those howlers in check and we choose not to use it out of sheer stupidity and bullheadedness. The easier solution is to accept the system, not to blame the umpires.

England's game from here on in. I would be very disappointed as an English fan if my team lost out from this position.

Say what?

 

[aditya123]

Say what?

That was hypothetical.

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This is that sort of a game where one partnership could lead to a 330 lead here. The timing of the next wicket is crucial. Even if this Dhoni-Vijay partnership leads us to the 200 run lead, the other batsmen would then feel confident enough to somehow manage to push it to 300. However, one wicket before drinks on the fourth morning and it could all go pear-shaped for India.

The stage is all set for Cook to strike back form in what could be a tough run chase.

 

[grkrama]

So what's the chance of MSD's new technique of moving across the stumps to counter pitched up outswinger working, he is exposing the stumps in the process.

 

[lion100lion]

Right on! This feeling has been always increasing within me that ever since the DRS debate started raging between India and the rest of the world, the quality of umpiring started dipping a lot more. Is that a mere co-incidence? I would like not to believe so... These days, even average decisions are hailed as "excellent".

Even before, umpire used to do mistakes. But there was no technology (imperfect technology) to point out their mistakes.