ICC Women’s World Cup: Absence of third umpire denies Australia a clear run-out

In the opening match of the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup, a bit of history was created. When Indian off-spinner Deepti Sharma was denied an appeal against England batter Natalie Sciver, captain Mithali Raj got the decision overturned in a momentous milestone for women’s cricket – the first-ever use of the Decision Review System.

Fast forward to Monday, and a bizarre moment during the Australia-West Indies match highlighted how problems still persist in the women’s game.

In the 14th over of the first innings, West Indies batter Chedean Nation, who was batting on 2 then, tucked the ball away towards square leg, and came back for the second run. It was a close-call, the ‘keeper took the bails off. There were muffled appeals from the players, not much conviction to it. The umpire, Kathy Cross, ran towards to the stumps, kept the bails pack in their place and went back to her poistion. She made up her mind that it was not out. It was bizarre, because the replays showed Nation was well short of the ground. She went on to make 39 and was dismissed by Kristen Beams later.

But why was she not dismissed for just 2? Because, this game did not have a television umpire, so there was no way for the umpire to double-check. “Cross is the one that has to give the decision because we have no television backup,” confirmed the commentator on air.

And suddenly, in a span of few days, we went from the first use of DRS to this.

The International Cricket Council has called this an unprecedented tournament for women’s cricket, for various reasons. Increased prize money. Live telecast across the world for 10 matches. Live coverage of every ball via online streaming, expert commentators and so on.

But despite having a live online stream, and showing the viewer multiple replays of the non-dismissal, the ICC has brought this upon themselves by not having third umpires for non-televised matches. While the likely reason for this is the fewer number of cameras present in the ground for non-televised matches, it’s still odd that such an excuse should be needed during the World Cup.

(Update: Wisden India reports that the replays came from the mid-wicket camera and this match only has “low specs” coverage with fewer cameras for live streaming, the ICC clarified.)

(We double-checked on the ICC web-site, there are no third umpires for non-televised games during the tournament)

It is also worth pointing out that the on-field umpire did not cover herself in glory by standing in a poor position that would not have made it easy to get the decision right. With the absence of the third umpire, the onus was on her to make sure she gave herself the best view. Having said that, humans make errors and that is precisely why technology is important for the game.

The ICC has come in for praise recently for several of the efforts they have taken to make this World Cup the first-of-its-kind. A pre-tournament release stated:

“As part of a comprehensive coverage plan of the eight-team tournament, 10 matches will be broadcast live on television with DRS being introduced into the women’s game for the first time and the remaining 21 matches live-streamed.

The television broadcasts, which will include the two semifinals and the final, will be covered with the help of 30 cameras. This includes, eight Hawk-Eye cameras which will be employed at each broadcast game for Ultra-motion ball-tracking that will enable a detailed analysis of the game.”

While all that it is creditable, a basic error like this highlights how far the women’s game has to go, to get proper recognition.

Men’s cricket has had the third umpire in every international game since 1992 (when Sachin Tendulkar became the first “victim” of technology during a Test in South Africa), it’s shocking that, in 2017, we are talking about having live streaming and but at the same time, not having television back-up to help the on-field umpires in a World Cup match.