Dale Steyn has an interesting suggestion for TV umpire's role

Umpiring in cricket has been facing some serious flak of late. From the on-field officials ignoring several no balls in the recent Sri Lanka-England Test series to the extremely low catch of Indian captain Virat Kohli in the Test match in Perth to the controversy over a no ball in a T20I game between Bangladesh and Windies – there have been instances one after another that have brought the ‘law-keepers’ of the game under serious questioning.

In the recent T20I match between Bangladesh and Windies in Mirpur, that the visitors won to take the series 2-1, a serious controversy broke out over a no ball which denied the Caribbeans a crucial wicket. The on-field umpire called a delivery by pacer Oshane Thomas to in-form batsman Liton Das which got his wicket, as an illegal delivery. But TV footage showed that Thomas’ feet was within the limits of law to make the delivery a valid one.

Windies protested but since laws say that a no ball decision can be reviewed only if the on-field umpire makes no call, the batsman got a life. A heated discussion was seen on the boundary between Windies captain Carlos Brathwaite and match referee Jeff Crowe though the Caribbean captain later commended the official.

Let on-field umpires focus on batter’s end

Two days after the controversial game, South African pacer Dale Steyn took to Twitter to come up with a suggestion for the umpires – both on and off the field. He said the third umpire, with all the technology at his/her disposal, could take calls on front foot, bouncer height, etc. and leave things happening at the batsman’s end to the on-field umpires.

During the recent Sri Lanka-England series when a number of front-foot no-balls went unnoticed, it was being said that the on-field umpires were turning lenient to the bowlers’ discipline since there was more technological support available to fall back on.

Just saw the “no ball” incident in the game WI vs Bangladesh.

Surely it’s time the 3rd umpire sitting with all the tv technology, can he/she not monitor the front foot, bouncer height etc and leave the on field umps to just make decisions at the batters end? #askingforafriend

— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) December 24, 2018

The suggestion by Steyn also calls for a reduced burden on the on-field umpires and allow them to concentrate more on the acts of the batsmen and fielders and leave the bowlers’ action to the reviewers.

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