Jury out on extra referrals to third umpire

Lukewarm reception for increased technology

Cricinfo staff

October 17, 2005

Rudi Koertzen refers another one upstairs © Getty Images

Rudi Koertzen, the South African umpire, was one who made it clear he was against the extended use of referrals to the third umpire for catches and leg-before decisions.

"We all make mistakes and I think the players actually make more mistakes than the umpires do," Koertzen said. "So they should leave it up to us to make the mistakes. We've got to live with that. That [Super Series] is only a trial. Who knows how far they're going to take it? Hopefully not too far."

Simon Taufel, Koertzen's colleague at the SCG, was in agreement. "For us as umpires, it's all a little bit disconcerting," he said. "There's an extra decision-making process, working out whether we use the third umpire or not. A lot of stoppages have harmed the momentum. It's nice to have it but I'm just trying to umpire normally as though the technology isn't there. If I've got no idea about what took place, the help is obviously there but ...

"We'll have a de-brief at the end of the series and see how it's worked out. It's only on trial. There is also the belief that increasing the technology will breed mediocrity among officials, where they take the soft option."

Perhaps the biggest fan turned out to be Ricky Ponting. "I think we are going to have to use it more before we get a really good idea on it," he said. "When you are trialing the technology the way that we have here I think that you are expecting every decision to be perfect just because you are using technology and I think the way the game is and the subtleties in some dismissals can be very hard to pick up and determine, so that's still going to be the case even though we are using this technology. I've been pretty impressed with the way it's worked during the one-day series and certainly in this Test match."

Graeme Smith, the World XI skipper, was less impressed. "It's another thing that needs to be looked at and fine-tuned. I think there's so much doubt on the television for us. We look at things that we thought were out and it was given not out or we thought was not out and it was given out. You try to take the human element out of the umpires, but you are still giving it to the third umpire so I think there's a lot of things that need to be looked at with the technology, I think it's a long way from being at a level where it can be used."

And Glenn McGrath was even more against an extension of the trial. "I think it's shown already that you are still going to make mistakes using it," he told a Sydney radio station. "I would prefer to keep it the way it is. Just use it for the stumpings and run outs, the things that I think are clear-cut. It is a funny one. We've watched decisions in the rooms and we're divided in the rooms. If the guys who have played the game can't make a decision by what the evidence shows on TV, it's going to be tough for the third umpire."

All the feedback will be assessed by the ICC. Malcolm Speed, its chief executive, was non-committal. "We will take a cautious approach with it," he said. "It was a good opportunity for us to trial it here. We've taken that opportunity. We'll see where we go from there."

Referrals during the Super Test

Average delay: 60 seconds

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Lukewarm reception for increased technology

A number of those involved in the Super Test at Melbourne have voiced their opinions about the increase use of referrals to the third umpire

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