The Hindu : ICC considering third on-field umpire

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Saturday, Jun 21, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

ICC considering third on-field umpire

LONDON june 20. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering a third on-field umpire to cut down on mistakes in international cricket matches.

The extra official was one of several issues discussed at the ICC's annual meeting which concluded at Lord's on Thursday.

``We're concerned about the performance of umpires,'' said Malcolm Speed, the chief executive of the ICC. ``We want the umpires to umpire to the highest possible standard, and minimize the number of mistakes they make. When we look at other sports, we see that they have large numbers of umpires occupied for far shorter period of time.''

Speed said tennis used at least seven umpires and replaced them during a match while cricket has so far done with two on-field umpires throughout the match. Only in recent years has a television umpire been introduced to help with run-outs and stumpings.

``That's (tennis) a far less onerous game to umpire than an international cricket match,'' Speed said.

The third umpire, if approved, would stand at mid-wicket and judge on no-balls, enabling the umpire at the bowler's end, to concentrate on the action at the batsman's end.

The cricket and umpires committee will discuss the suggestion in detail, but according to Dave Richardson, ICC general manager for cricket, it would be a while before it is introduced.

``We might ask one of the member boards to try it out at domestic level and see how it works,'' Richardson said.

Outgoing president Malcolm Gray, who was replaced by Ehsan Mani on Thursday, said, in the wake of increased onfield misbehaviour, the ICC has given umpires and officials more time to take action. The ICC came under increased scrutiny after officials failed to punish players during the recent series between Australia and the West Indies in the Caribbean.

With England hosting the 2004 Champions Trophy, Speed said the ICC would support the England and Wales Cricket Board's push for a government legislation to stop pitch invasions.

The first one-day international between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford on Tuesday was marred by crowd invasion in a repeat of some unruly behaviour by Pakistan supporters here two years ago. ``It's a serious issue,'' said Speed.

Speed said there was no crowd trouble during the 52 World Cup matches in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya in March.

``That was due to the good deal of work that had been put in by South Africans,'' he said.

``I thought the steps the ECB took with relation to player safety meant they were on top of the issue. But it is back to the drawing board. There is a call for legislation and I support that entirely.''

Speed said there was an ICC operations code in place but refused to say whether the cricket grounds in England met the required standard.

It was also decided from October 1, catches would not be referred to the television umpire unless the view of the onfield umpire had been obstructed.

Now, umpires can refer bump-balls to the third umpire for clarification.

ICC also accepted that the umpires and referees have been inconsistent in applying the new Code of Conduct for the players.

In the report, Speed candidly admitted he has not been entirely happy with the implementation of the Code of Conduct by the umpires and referees and urged that it be made ``clearer, tougher and fairer''.

He was of the view that to make the implementation of Code of Conduct successful it is important that it is explained in detail to the players, coaches and other officials.

Speed said that it is important that people interested in the game across the world be made aware of the fact that the ``highest standards of player behaviour will be applied and that these will be enforced by the umpires in the first instance and by the referees who will act as the adjudicators.''

ICC was also continuously working with its elite panel of umpires to improve the general standards of umpiring.

"This is an area where we are continuing to work with them as a consistent approach is essential to earning respect for both the Code and the officials.

Speed made it clear that this is an area where there is no short-term solution. ``It requires further work and refinement and new assessment and feedback processes will help identify areas for improvement.''

Meanwhile according to an ICC release, Speed also set up an Audit Committee, with Alan Gillett as Internal Auditor, to replace the previous Finance and Marketing Committee.

``This is in accordance with best practice in corporate governance and it is a very important committee for ICC.'' The functions previously performed by the Finance and Marketing Committee will now be performed by senior managers in the ICC team. It was also announced that ICC will try in the next one year, to become a unified organisation in charge of both men's and women's cricket.

There has been lot of discussion and meetings with the International Women's Cricket Council with a view to have a unified organisation for the game in the near future.

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