Let the Machines get in!

Last week saw the gap between the Aussies and the rest of the world getting wider as the fellas from down-under relished yet another cup victory. But, what kept me at awe was the continuous fall in the quality of umpiring standards on an equal rate these days. How much of 'human error' is really justifiable in any game and how much more can anyone control his disgust at someone just because they personify the rules of the game? Any human has an off-day at work, but it should come at the basal minimum in any profession for they carry larger stakes than anyone can imagine.

Atleast three horrible decisions in the crucial India-Aus clash last Friday. Sachin was the first victim (though Umpire Benson called him back to the utter dismay of Ponting) to go, when the ball had clearly brushed his shoulder before landing on the wicket keeper's gloves. Inspite of his ludicrous agression, Dhoni was caught of a clear Brett Lee no-ball. Harbhajan's was next, when there was absolutely no semblance of noise to be detected even for the snicko. All those dismissals at crucial junctures of the game. Next to pay the price was Brian Lara in the finals when all the replays clearly showed it was his bat that brushed his pads and not the ball.

Modern games, given their intricacies has a tough go at the refs as well. Every game these days consist of a collective crew. Take Tennis for instance, the chair umpire besides all those line officials. So is soccer or basketball. Baseball has one on each mound. Not that all those games are less wobbly and the decisions had always been human-error free. Fatigue can sure be a factor and why can't the three umpires share the workload and take turns during the drinks break, instead of having one guy staying inert at the pavilion watching the TV monitors. Why can't we give him equal powers to veto any decision made by an on-field umpire. Wire them up - encourage the on-field umpires to work with the guy upstairs. This is not anamolous to any sport. Look at soccer or the NBA or the NFL, the umpires do huddle together to put their collective brains to work before giving out any contestable decisions. Wire up the bowling crease with sensors to detect no-balls. Perfect the hawk-eye and snickometer technologies. Imagine an umpire's chore to watch Brett Lee's foot for a noball and within a fraction of a second, switch his angle of vision to track the line of the delivery for any potential LBW decision.

What is the ICC doing to spruce up the umpiring standards? A nation of billion people cannot even have a single member in ICC's elite panel. Why not a technology revamp for the officiators, which would make their utility better than a coat-stand? Instead, if we want to add a dose of uncertainity to the game all in the name of 'human error', so be it and you can as well go play some chips in Vegas!

Life has it that when human limitations are stretched, that is when machines take over. If that can be true with any aspect of life, why not this sport as well. What are we set to lose other than our own 'ego' to seek help from technology when humans continue to land ignonimously on the erring side. Everyone gets paid at this profession and it is everyone's task to bring some quality to the table. Lets accept the fact of human limitation and not try to seek cover under preserving the sanctity of a non-existant cachet. After all, "the continued opportunity to alleviate human distress is one important motivation for continuing technological advancement." (Laws of Accelerating Returns !)

Noted cricket writer, Neville Cardus had this to say about the umpires "The umpire ... is like the geyser in the bathroom; we cannot do without it, yet we notice it only when it is out of order."

Yes, we sure notice it when it is out of order and we scream about it.

Time for a Cricket Break ?!

So, yet another ‘chokers' tag and the men in blue are back home, perhaps an early exit would give some of their ‘stars’ more time to focus on their endorsement commitments - be it a pesti cola, or a soap bar or an idiot box. What is wrong in losing? After all plain logic would suggest there can only be one winner atop the podium in the end. Look at the two teams that made it to the finals - a team which is much ahead of the rest of the pack in world cricket today and another, which appears to be on a revival run of sorts ahead of hosting the world cup next year. Perhaps peaking at the right time to make the event next year a very well balanced one.

Already the game is losing out its charm amidst the minnows and the teams at the end of the rung are only getting worser by days. A World cup seems more to be a contest between the same old 8 teams and a bunch of minnows for whom a mere appearance in the world event seems to be a solace than any chance of pulling-out a surprise.

What caught me curious was a comment thrown by Tony Greig in the post-match analysis of the last India-Aus clash. ‘India is so much important to the world of cricket and their early exit is such a big loss’. Of course it would be, leave alone the array of talented batting line-up that once gets clicking can enthral any audience, but more than anything, the economics that revolves around these bunch of eleven and the association they are part of namely the BCCI.

Look at what lies ahead of us. If the BCCI is to be believed, cricket to be played in Malaysia, Europe, the Yankee land, Africa, where not. If you tell me, it is all in the name of ennobling the game of cricket across the globe, I can leave the pleasure of seeing a Malaysia or China at the helm of cricket to my great grand children, when I see the every day demise of the same game in Zimbabwe, Kenya and a Bangladesh. The newly appointed cowboys of BCCI are all set to milk the cashcows to the max and dont be surprised if the national team ends up playing against a Brunei X1, just because the crown king of Brunei wanted to showcase cricket to his son and sent his fat cheque book to Mr.Lalit Modi. Some financials in one of the news channels says, the BCCI would end up burgeoning its coffers by close to $25 million for each such tournament and majority of this money comes from selling television rights.

It is a street-fight between the media houses - ESPN, TEN Sports, Set MAX, Zee and Sahara - judicial intervention is so frequent these days. Anyone with a decent camera and a fat cheque book can get the telecast rights. Don't be surprised with all his clout as the communication minister, Sun TV may join the fray too soon. Where does the money come from for all these channels - advertisements, ofcourse. Right from the pesti-colas to motor bikes to consumer durables all targeted at a market that no one can resist. A society with an ever increasing midddle-class and whose spending habits are making every corporate entity drool over. While BCCI gets busy milking the cashcows, who ensures the quality of the telecast? 5 ball overs are the norm of the day. And the moment a wicket falls, all we get to see is a priyanka chopra. A fast bowler walking back to his bowling mark, squeeze in couple of commercials. Ball getting wacked out of the ground for a six - you get to see a dad trying to fix nuptials for his daughter thru BSNL. Its another story that the commercials have become almost like a mini documentary these days; few of them running to almost a minute. Soon it would time for a 'Cricket Break' amidst a conutinuous stream of commercials.

The TV screen is already cluttered with an animated advt at the bottom, the BCCI logo in one corner, the broadcaster logo in another corner and another advt animation between those two; yes the most important cricketer caught in between all these. Soon you would require a big screen TV, if you really want to watch some cricket or all you might get to see is the score ticker at the bottom and continuous relay of commercials with some cricket in-between.

Look at the number of spectators in these venues; all you could see was empty plastic seats in Malaysia. It was a pitiful scene during the India-WI series as well where the locals clearly had their preferences right and were more interested in seeing the Trinidad & Tobago at the soccer world cup than lining up to the cricket field. For whatever reason, all chennai got to watch on the first day of the DLF cup was a blank screen of Zee Sports. Later I read somewhere that there was a tussle between Zee and the local cable distributor.

So, where is the game of cricket heading inspite of the burgeoning coffers of all the cricketing boards? How much of all this money is used in the name of cricket, leave alone bringing in new nations under the bandwagon, reviving the loosing charm among nations like Bangladesh, Keyna and a Zimbabwe is the need of the hour? Soon, the cricketers may soon wear billboard shirts like the F1 drivers. Why not? They get a chunk of the pie as well. Wonder how much of a loss would it be for the sponsors on a final clash sans India? Tony Greig is perhaps right, it is not Indian Cricket that is so important to the world, but the Indian market that is becoming the cynosure of all these media houses to target their commercials.