End of an umpire's role as we know it?

[MenInG]

Below is what is happening in the world of tennis - Can cricket also get rid of the on-field decisions and just leave the umpire in some sort of a notional on-field role?

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Human line judges will be replaced by an electronic calling system on a full-time basis on the ATP Tour from 2025.

The ATP, which is the men's governing body, said the move will "optimise accuracy and consistency" in events.

Some tournaments have already scrapped human line judges, including the majors at the Australian Open and US Open.

"This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we've reached without careful consideration," said ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.

"Tradition is core to tennis and line judges have played an important part in the game over the years.

"That said, we have a responsibility to embrace innovation and new technologies."

The electronic calling system has been widely adopted since the Covid-19 pandemic when tournaments looked to minimise human interaction.

It will be implemented across all surfaces on the ATP Tour, although the four Grand Slam tournaments continue to make their own decisions.

Wimbledon, played on grass, and the clay-court French Open have been reluctant to remove human judgement.

While Wimbledon allows players to challenge decisions using the Hawk-Eye system, the French Open has so far refused to introduce technology assistance.

BBC

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

I have been thinking about this for a while now. One of many reasons why cricket is so boring is because every decision goes on this third umpire big screen.

Umpire Makes a Decision, One team reviews, decision is referred, third umpire/ technology is used to make final decision.

Now we have Third Umpire being used for No balls, and people want to use DR for Wides??? Seriously?

Clean Catches, Boundary catches, and other things I cant think of right now, are referred to third umpire/ technology.

The on-field umpire, if we have a genuine think about it, has maybe only one or two useful roles.

 

[Suleiman]

I have been thinking about this for a while now. One of many reasons why cricket is so boring is because every decision goes on this third umpire big screen.

Umpire Makes a Decision, One team reviews, decision is referred, third umpire/ technology is used to make final decision.

Now we have Third Umpire being used for No balls, and people want to use DR for Wides??? Seriously?

Clean Catches, Boundary catches, and other things I cant think of right now, are referred to third umpire/ technology.

The on-field umpire, if we have a genuine think about it, has maybe only one or two useful roles.

I enjoy the suspense. One of the reasons 2011 semi was so memorable was because of that intense suspense of the SRT decision.

I know most of us know that game as Mohaligate. But all in all, a p entertaining game for 75% of its duration.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

I created a thread on it back in October to either start holding umpires accountable cause they've become lazy as the umpire's call is a big saver for them rather than the cricketers playing the game.

 

[sweep_shot]

Get rid of umpires. Use technology.

If technology is not available, use umpires by all means.

 

[MenInG]

The Pakistan Cricket Board will organise four-day-long Level-II Umpiring Course from tomorrow, Tuesday, at its headquarters in Lahore. This course will be attended by 65 candidates, who passed the Level-I course in 2021.

This course will further strengthen the PCB’s pool of umpires and the successful candidates will be inducted in the PCB’s Development Panel of Umpires who will officiate the district cricket association matches in the upcoming season. This will be the first induction in the panel since 2016-17 season.

The candidates will undergo comprehensive training on the first three days and will take a written examination and interviews on the last day.

The trainers for the course are Ahsan Raza, member ICC Elite Panel of Umpires, Asif Yaqoob, member ICC and PCB International Panel of Umpires, and Nasir Hussain from the PCB Elite Panel of Umpires.

There are three tiers of the PCB Panel of Umpires – Elite, Supplementary and Development, with the umpires beginning their careers from the development panel and graduating to elite based on their performances.

These 65 were amongst the 350 candidates who passed the Level-I Umpiring Course in 2021 after attaining at least 60 per cent score. The maximum age limit to appear in the Level-II course is 45.

 

[Firebat]

You can't go completely autonomous, as the rules of cricket can sometimes be blurrier than in a sport like tennis, where the ball is in or out.

What happens if the view that the computer was trained on is obstructed? What about judging complex things like a run out where the wicket needs to be taken out of the ground, or when the player has broken the bails before clasping the ball and breaking the stumps?

Too many grey areas to be fully autonomous. Hybrid model is possible, like is coming soon in football, where you still have human officials but offsides will be semi-automated.