Twitter
Advertisement

TV crews doctor images, says Bucknor

Close on the heels of the ICC's push for an extended role for technology in the game, come damaging allegations from a reputed umpire who said TV production crews doctor images to show umpires in poor light and favour popular batsmen.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin
PORT OF SPAIN (Trinidad): Close on the heels of the ICC's push for an extended role for technology in the game, come damaging allegations from a reputed umpire who said TV production crews doctor images to show umpires in poor light and favour popular batsmen.
 
ICC Elite Panel umpire Steve accused television companies of misusing technology that, he said, was creating mistrust between players and umpires.
 
"It has been known to happen where the technology has been used to make umpires look bad.
 
"Mats (the line graphic used to adjudge leg before decisions) have been moved, balls have disappeared, ball hitting the bat and only coming up into the fielder's hands, but between the bat and the hand, no ball is found and you are told, 'Sorry, we don't have that clip, we can't show it'," he was quoted as saying by the media here.
 
"It has happened. I've been in a game when it has happened," said Bucknor, who has stood in a world record 111 Tests and four World Cup finals.
 
"Sometimes nothing is shown because the batsman was a key batsman and getting out at that stage would have made life very difficult for that team.
 
"It all depends on who is operating the technology. I have been told that this ball is the one with which the batsman got out, but the one that is being shown is not the same one he got out with.
 
"It has been known to happen. When these things are happening, it makes life extremely difficult for the umpires. Who do you trust from there on you don't know," he was quoted as saying in the Trinidad and Tobago Express.
 
Bucknor's stinging remarks come a day after the International Cricket Council's Cricket Committee recommended that teams be allowed to appeal to the third umpire three times in an innings if they were not satisfied with the on-filed umpire's decision.
 
The recommendations, if approved at the ICC chief executives' meeting at London in July, would be tried out at the Champions Trophy in India in October this year.
 
Bucknor admitted that there is place for technology in the game and would like to see "a little bit more".
    
"In the beginning of my career, umpires were trusted. When umpires said not out, the man was trusted, so they would say he is a good umpire and nobody questioned him.
 
"Today, the technology shows up his mistakes, and makes life a little bit difficult for umpires, especially when it has been known to happen that technology has been used to make umpires look bad," said Bucknor, who has also officiated in 139 One-day Internationals.
 
Bucknor expressed disappointment that umpires were not consulted by the ICC before taking important decisions.
 
"I'd been happy been to be part of this change, but these things happen and we know about them happening rather than for us to say this is what we want. We'll have to live by them.
 
"Whatever they say, we'll just have to live by," he said.
Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement