ICC have denied umpires help they need
Cricket is under the cosh again today for failing to make wider use of technology.
While Pakistan insist they are innocent of ball-tampering charges and umpires David Shepherd and Eddie Nicholls find themselves in the dock for making mistakes, the game's rulers steadfastly refuse to be moved.
Less than a week before the Old Trafford Test, which ended last night with a series-levelling defeat for England, an International Cricket Council committee decided against extending TV-based technology.
It was a television camera that appeared to catch Pakistan captain Waqar Younis scratching one side of the ball yesterday. But if third umpire Ray Julian or match referee Brian Hastings had seen anything suspicious and wanted to tell the on-field officials immediately by walkie-talkie, that would have been outside their brief.
More controversially, Julian was unable to instantly inform Shepherd and Nicholls that, between them, they failed to spot four England batsmen in quick succession being dismissed by illegal deliveries.
Shepherd missed Saqlain Mushtaq over-stepping the crease shortly before Ian Ward, Andy Caddick and Dominic Cork fell to the spinner. Just prior to that bizarre hat-trick, Nicholls did not see Wasim Akram going at least six inches beyond the line when bowling to Nick Knight.
To complete Knight's misery, television replays indicated that he shouldn't have been adjudged lbw because Wasim's delivery would have missed the stumps.
England captain Alec Stewart had no complaints, accepting that human error is inevitable.
But two good umpires who had fine Tests for the most part could have been assisted by technology when they needed help. As a result of last month's ICC ruling, though, there are no plans to make more use of television.
