Bring one more umpire into the ground: Dean Jones

56-year old Victoria man Dean Jones is popularly known as Professor Jones, and recently, Jones expressed his disappointment at the number of no-balls that are being missed by the umpires now a days.  The batsman who redefined ODI cricket by stepping out of the crease against fearsome bowling attacks and clearing the fence at will, Jones feels that adding on one more umpire on the ground won’t be a bad option to counter the number of no-balls that go unchecked.

Speaking to Deccan Chronical, Jones said,”They have started checking no-ball after every dismissal. I hate it. It kills the moment and the natural flow of the game. Instead of using the TV replay every time, they can bring in one more umpire into the ground just to check whether the bowler is stepping over the line. These days umpires are missing too many. They can’t see the crease properly as the bowler’s hip comes in the way”.

In the recently concluded Test series between England and South Africa, the visitors bowled 13 no-balls in the first innings. Clearly, the fact of the matter is the impact it creates on a game. South Africa’s Morne Morkel bowled Ben Stokes on a no-ball, and post that, spinner Keshav Maharaj too crossed the line to see England skipper Joe Root stay back on his ground.

Last year, in a Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Wellington, Adam Voges was on seven when he was bowled by Australia’s Doug Bracewell. The on-field umpire, Richard Illingworth, called a no-ball – incorrectly, the decision stayed and Voges was reprieved; he went on to score 239 in that very match.

Same way during a Test match in the year 2001, between England and Pakistan, the Englishmen lost four batsmen to no-balls, which the umpires failed to detect. Opener Nick Knight, trapped lbw by Wasim Akram, and then Ian Ward, Andrew Caddick and Dominic Cork, all dismissed by spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, fell on no-balls, which the umpires failed to call, the last three all missed by David Shepherd.