On November 29,1946, Don Bradman was playing his first test in eight years. The 38 year old had decided that if he doesn’t get a hundred in the mtach he would retire. When he was at 28 runs, he tried to guide a delivery from Bill Voce from outside off-stump, wide of slips, there’s contact and the ball goes at chest height to the second slip and Jack Ikin catches it. But the umpire called it “not out”. and after that Bradman makes 187 and Austrailia wins by an innings and Don Bradman plays for 2 more years.
It was out, he had chopped the ball into the ground off the bottom edge and it went to Ikin. The umpire saw dust and thought it was a bump ball. If the same match was played today and the same thing would have happened, then there would be playback from three camera angles and a snickometer.
Cricket was once a game of glorious uncertainity. But technology has made it more certain. Line calls like stumpings and run outs are 100 percent accurate. LBW’s are no longer given when the ball pitches outside leg. Hawkeye type programmes determine if a ball would hit the stumps-six cameras track the trajectory of the ball as it leaves the bowlers hand. The line is projected with far more accuracy than by the unaided eye.
Hawkeye style methods are also useful for working out wagon wheels and bowlers lines. Hawkeye was written by a Canadian firm. In cricket there is the additional unpredictable element of deviation after pitching which can’t be gamed yet.
Umpiring isn’t the only where technology has changed cricket. There’s been a sea-change in bats, for instance. Bat makers make “lasts” of players handspans, much as custom shoemakers do with feet. They mould carbon composite handles to fit. Then they cut and press wood to exact specifications using computerized tools to give the desired balance.
Helmets, gloves and pads are other areas of innovation. Every batsman and short leg fielder wants the lightest helmet with the best peripheral vision and the best protection.
The latest trend is developing scouting and auctioning software. At one level, cricket remains a simple game. Sehwag goes out, sees ball and hits ball. But behind scenes, the complexity keeps growing. The next Sehwag maybe some unknown kid from Chhattisgarh village, picked up by a scouting programme and outfitted with customized equipment. The next Mendis could be a double jointed kid pinpointed by searching medical records.
This is how technology has changed sport-cricket. And this maybe the starting, in future there would be no umpires, better bats and balls. The technology would just change sports.
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