Sunday, January 06, 2008

Solution for controversial decisions

I have a solution framework for catches becoming more open and fair.
If a catch is taken in the deep the batsman walks and does not wait for the umpire's decision. Why cant the same principal be applied. One or two wrong decisions divided equally between both teams can be attributed to human errors but in a game where as many as 6 wrong decisions were given by the umpires against a single team who get affected enough to loose the match from a winning position then there is a BIG NEED for a change deep down.

Make it imperative that the batsmen HAVE to walk when they are out be catching in any manner, whether in the deep or behind the stumps. If they dont walk, then BAN them for next 5 Tests and 5 One-Days apart from deducting their full fee for the current series.
In other words, get the on-field umpires totally out of deciding on caught behind and edges. If a batsman does not walk then the fielding team appeals to third umpire who adjudicates and based on the result of TV replays the above is enforced.
So in the 2nd Test the crook Ponting and the monkey Symonds did not walk in the first inning and Hussey in the second and Dravid and Ganguly were wrongly given out. Put that into perspective here. TV replays clearly showed the Aussie cheaters out and hence they would have been forced to leave and Saurav and Dravid would have stayed put. Because the penalty for not walking is so high, each and every cricketer would HAVE to respect it and those who are not out will have no fear and can stay put without fear. The human error element in umpiring also gets totally removed. There may be genuine doubts in parties' mind and there too they can tell the on-field umpires that they are not sure and can ask for replays.
Similarly, apply the same punishment and penalty if a fielder grounds a catch but still claims it by appealing for it. This will again stop crooks like Ponting and Clark from claiming catches when they are grounded and then losing their cool against the media. http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jan/06rick.htm

Now someone needs to take this idea out and put it in front ICC for review. Send in your comments folks and refer it around to others as well if it seems good.

No comments: