Umpire and UDRS in Cricket

The World Cup 2011 is entering the last week of the league matches and each match is now crucial as not only it will decide who proceeds to the next stage, but also it decides the match-ups for the quarter-finals. In these circumstances, a single bad decision (howler as we cricket fanatics know) given by the umpire can change fate of the game.

The most recent example of such a howler was given by Asoka De Silva, when the Ireland team was chasing against West Indies and were in a real chance to cause an upset. Even when we have the UDRS system in place, it still proved to be a howler. However, this post of mine is not to gauge the pros and cons of UDRS system, but it is to give a thought on why do umpires make such mistakes.

The first and foremost reason I believe is that Umpiring in Cricket is unlike any other sport. In other sports like Soccer, Football, Hockey, the Referee keeps is almost as active as any other players. They have to keep moving, which keeps their body warm and they are constantly at their best decision making ability. However, in Cricket, Umpires are the stationary players. They do not have to move, but always keep their eyes and ears open to make the correct judgement. I do not think that if in Boxing, a boxer if tries to stand and deliver, he will be able to beat the other boxer. After a certain period of time, a person is bound to lose focus if he has to just stay still and focus and make decisions. And in Cricket, consider the duration of the game and the weather conditions. It may be very hot or it may get really cold and windy.

I myself have umpired some games in our Cricket league in Chicago and have made such howlers. The common thing that I have noticed is that in the first innings, I have enjoyed umpiring and made better decisions, but then when it is the 2nd innings, when I have started losing focus and made some bad decisions. There were some days when my mind was occupied with other things, which hampered my umpiring skills. Again my Cricket buddies in Chicago, please do not try to remind me of these things this year while umpiring, else these great skills will come back even with more power and then force me to make more howlers. :-)

Anyways, going back to International games, also one thing I believe what matters is the age of the umpires. Majority of Umpires are in their late 40s and I am sure most of you will agree that the body at this age is susceptible more to such conditions as I mentioned above and it will be slower at times. This can be considerably addressed by getting younger Professional umpires.

Well, I too feel grieved when such decisions happen, but at the end of the day, the Umpires too are human and make mistakes as any fielder dropping an easy catch or a batsman getting out to a simple ball. And for now, let us try to enjoy the great Cricket World Cup and hope the best team be the Champion (India ....) :-) And yes, let me know your comments on this post!!