Shep caught on a hop with tech intervention

Umpire David Shepherd finds himself in a very tricky situation these days. Each time a bowler is no-balled for over-stepping, he turns to &#...

Umpire David Shepherd finds himself in a very tricky situation these days. Each time a bowler is no-balled for over-stepping, he turns to ‘Shep’ and asks him, ‘How far over the line was I?’ to which the English umpire has no answer.

‘‘I don’t know what to say to him,’ says Shepherd sheepishly. But it’s not his fault, according to the ICC’s latest experiment in the Champions Trophy, the on-field umpires will be relieved of calling no-balls during the tournament, forcing the third umpire to really have to earn his money. After the preliminary trial in Holland returned with good results, the ICC decided to implement it in England for the tournament.

So the TV umpire will use the two-way earpiece link to advise the standing officials of any no-ball deliveries. The moment the bowler oversteps, the TV umpire lets the standing umpire know almost immediately.

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ICC spokesman Jon Long explains that from now on the umpires will only have to worry about the business end instead of looking down at the bowler’s end. This gives them some crucial extra fractions of a second to judge whether an appeal is out or not.

Shepherd, however, finds it very hard not to look down at the crease when he hears the bowler running in behind him. ‘‘I try so hard not to look down but you know it just can’t be helped. It’s an old habit to kill,’’ he says.

West Indies umpire Steve Bucknor though experiences similar problems is more adventurous. ‘‘The moment the bowler asks me how far he went over the line, I go right back to the TV umpire and ask him,’’ Bucknor says.

Long said that two incidents have gone almost unnoticed in the tournament so far, one of them involving India and Kenya. ‘‘VVS Laxman was caught off a no-ball called by the TV umpire at the Rose Bowl,’’ said Long.

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‘‘It is good for the game that technology is taking the umpires closer to giving better results,’’ Shepherd said.