Official Policy Announcement
The Virtual Stoa opposes the new system of the players being able to refer umpires’ decisions to the third umpire. By all means have the umpires able to call in help from the chap in front of the TV screen. But the system they’ve got is silly, and seems to waste a lot of time.
Norm agrees:
http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2009/02/secondappeal-umpiring.html
I think what I really dislike about the system is what it does to the commentary – now every time there’s an appeal, the radio commentators will talk about whether the players will appeal, and if the team has used up its appeals, the commentators will point this out (again), and if the replay shows that the decision was a bad one, the commentators will talk about how the team wasted its chances earlier, and so on. It’s not at all interesting, but it’s taking up far too much attention.
↓ Quote | Posted 7 February, 2009, 2:49 pmI guess I have two objection to this lark. First, it does not have the courage of its convictions. If we are to use new technology to get accurate decisions, teams should be allowed to appeal an umpire’s decision whenever they please. Hawkeye is as objective a court of appeal as we can get, after all. Second, but more strongly, I object to it because seriously compromises the nature of the sport. Cricket is a game of judgment above all things and this is what referrals are designed to impair. Scandalous.
↓ Quote | Posted 7 February, 2009, 6:27 pm