Cricket: Referees want big screen censorship

By RICHARD BOOCK

Never mind crowd behaviour, player discipline or umpiring accuracy - apparently the big screen is cricket's most pressing concern.

The International Cricket Council has been asked to restrict and regulate the use of television replays at match venues, in a move which could have repercussions for New Zealand grounds next season.

Match referee Barry Jarman, who has officiated throughout the winter series between South Africa and England, is to send a report to the ICC recommending restricted use of replays at test matches in an effort to reduce pressure on umpires.

The former Australian test wicketkeeper has apparently been upset by on-site replays highlighting controversial decisions, and will follow the lead of New Zealand match referee John Reid, who stated during the recent Australia-Pakistan series his intention to petition the ICC on the issue.

Jarman said he would press for replays to be restricted to just one at slow-motion speed and one at normal-speed.

"The umpire has a split second to make his decision, unlike the commentators and the TV viewers," he said during the fifth test at Centurion. "They're never wrong because they're able to wait for slo-mos before becoming instant experts."

Neither did he believe that during a video-assisted umpiring decision, on-site screens should be allowed to show the same picture being viewed by the third umpire, as spectator reaction placed unfair pressure on that official as well.

Jarman's initiative comes days after the one-day match between India and Australia at Melbourne was interrupted for 18 minutes by a bottle-throwing section of the crowd, apparently angered by a perfectly correct run-out decision by the third umpire.

It also follows some acrimonious incidents during the Pakistan tour of Australia in November, during which Reid reportedly made two approaches to the Australian Cricket Board in an attempt to have the number of replays at grounds reduced.

ACB rules governing match-venue replays stipulate that contentious decisions be shown only once, but they were regularly breached in the second test at Hobart, when continuous replays cast doubt on a not-out decision given in favour of Justin Langer, and the controversial bowling action of Shoaib Ahktar.

"The umpires already have enough on their plates without this sort of thing being shown in public," Reid said at the time. "And in any case, the replay has also been shown to be far from infallible."

New Zealand's only current restriction on the use of the big-screen replay is that it be turned off as the bowler approaches the wicket, but things might be tightened considerably if the ICC takes Jarman and Reid's concerns on board.

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe - now executive producer of Sky Television's outside cricket broadcast - suggested yesterday that any move to restrict on-site replays would represent a retrograde, rather than a progressive step.

"To my mind, we should be doing everything in our power to make the game more entertaining," said Crowe. "It should be our No 1 priority.

"If the ICC have concerns about the reactions of players and sections of the crowd, then the first thing they should do is ensure that the umpiring is genuinely neutral. Having just one neutral umpire and one local official defeats the purpose of the exercise.

"While there's a human element there's always going to be the occasional mistake, but if the decision-making process is completely neutral - and is seen to be - then I think a lot of the heat is taken out of the issue."