Cricket: Definitely Indecisive

When it comes to controversy in sport, cricket is never far from the spotlight. Whether it is ball tampering or match fixing, often there is a point of interest and inevitably debate.

And so it lived up to its slightly tainted image yesterday in match 64 of the IPL between Chennai Super Kings and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Michael Hussey, the Australian batsman leant forward to play a stroke off the bowling of the Tuskers’ slow left arm Ravindra Jadeja only for the ball to flick off the sweet spot of his bat, clip his shoulder and loop up and be taken easily by the wicketkeeper.

Out? According to the rule book yes, however ‘not out’ was the decision given by umpire Rudi Koertzen.

Naturally the Tuskers were up in arms about the decision and having appealed to Koertzen, they then set about the square leg umpire Kumar Dharmasena – who in turn could do nothing.

These scenes immediately refreshed the way in which Manchester United secured their 19^th league title last Saturday. Paul Robinson, the Blackburn goalkeeper brought Javier Hernandez down in the penalty area yet referee Phil Dowd was unsighted, sought the advice of his assistant who had initially flagged for a goal kick and after a 30 second delay, a penalty kick was correctly awarded.

In the time it took for both sets of players to disperse from hounding the officials, TV replays had shown several times that contact had been made and unless a penalty was awarded it was the wrong decision.

Reluctance to accept technology in Football because it slows the game down is mirrored by Cricket which seems to be shooting itself in the foot in a similar way.

Why couldn’t Koertzen seek assistance from video technology? The simple answer is he’s not allowed. For all the foresight of the ICC to allow the review system in to test matches, one of the premier T20 competitions which boasts world stars, does not have the ruling in place to simply answer whether batsmen are out.

The gentleman’s unwritten rule states that a batsman should declare himself out if he knows contrary to the wisdom of the umpire also seems to have gone out the window as Hussey stood his ground.

He went on to make the second highest score for the Super Kings as they prospered, and while he should, in many people’s eyes, have walked, an interactive poll during the coverage indicated over 60% would have remained at the crease too.

Twenty20 cricket might not only be changing the skills of players, but the morals of fans.