22 players. 4 umpires. And a
computer. Is that why cricket has become full of glitches?
AD: Hey, no mails from you for a long
time... no Facebook updates, no Twitter messages...
BC: Ever since the World Cup began, I
haven't managed to go near the computer. The only screen that I've
been staring at is that of my TV.
AD: Well, you can probably do without a
computer, but cricket can’t.
BC: Computers in cricket? Now I know
why the game has frequent stoppages, its future ‘hangs’ in
balance, newer versions are constantly being tried out and everyone’s
claiming that the game’s gone corrupt.
AD: Oh c’mon! Technology adds a lot
more clarity and insight to the game.
BC: Really?
AD: The UDRS (Umpire Decision Review
System) ensures that the on-field umpires don’t make mistakes…
BC: …except in lbw decisions when the
impact of the ball on the pads is over 2.5 metres from the stumps.
AD: Well, the ICC has amended that rule
now. What about Hotspot? That’s hi-tech stuff used by the military
- it creates bright spots when there is friction produced by the
collision of two objects. So it’s easy to spot an edge when the bat
comes in contact with the ball.
BC: What use is technology that can’t
be made available everywhere? This World Cup is being played without
Hotspot as the team behind it wasn’t willing to provide the
infra-red cameras.
AD: If you can’t see the edges, you
can hear them with the Snickometer. It has a microphone connected to
an oscilloscope and if there’s noise of ball brushing the bat, it’s
displayed graphically…
BC: It’s not just edges that you can
hear… Kids at home are being exposed to terrible language and
desperate sledging by the players because of the microphone. At this
rate, we’ll soon need a new technology to beep out their swearing.
AD: What about Hawkeye then? It’s a
computer system that traces a ball's trajectory and predicts if it
would have hit the stumps.
BC: Does Hawkeye take into account
factors like the deteriorating nature of the pitch, wear and tear of
the ball or weather conditions? Any of these can alter a ball’s
trajectory.
AD: Talking of weather, Duckworth Lewis
is a big help in achieving a result in rain-affected matches…
BC: You should ask South Africa that.
In the 1992 World Cup, they needed to score 22 runs off one ball,
thanks to the rule. Duckworth Lewis has still not been understood by
most and is like a bad formula in school that everyone learns by
heart without understanding it.
AD: What about ProBatter, a virtual
reality tool that simulates the deliveries of any bowler in the
world? Apparently it played a key role in England winning the Ashes.
BC: Really? If that were so, they
should have won the subsequent one-day series too. Any particular
reasons why they didn’t practice with ProBatter then?
AD: Are you trying to tell me that
technology is no good in cricket?
BC: Well, when was the last time
someone had an average of 99.94 or took 19 wickets in a test because
of a computer?
AD: But the viewing pleasure…
BC: After having waded through the
worm, the manhattan, the beehive, stump vision, wagon wheels, pitch
maps, rail cam and spider graphs, you realise that cricket was once a
simple game…
AD: Obviously technology and you don’t
go together.
BC: But my life has a lot in common
with cricket. Technology has successfully managed to complicate both.
