THE TECHNOLOGY HELPING DRS MAKE THE CORRECT DECISION

When the letters O U T appears on the big-screen at a Betway SA20 match, it does not only signal the agonising deathknell for a batter (and cue the fielding team’s celebrations), but also the conclusion of effective integration between match officials and technology.

In years gone by, umpires were entrusted with all decisions made on the field, which opened them to critique (oftentimes unfairly so). That narrative, however, has changed as more and more technology has come into the game of cricket and backed up the accuracy of the split-second decisions the officials make.

“Technology has really come to the fore in recent years, there have been so many advances which have made the ‘product’ of cricket more appealing to spectators at home, fans in the stands, and the players and match officials themselves,” says Stephen Cook, Betway SA20’s Head of Cricket Operations.

It is for this reason that SA20 will continue to invest in the most cutting-edge technologies available.

“For Season 2 of Betway SA20 we brought on board Hawkeye… they’re the leaders in ball-tracking technology and are the foundation of the DRS, which is the Decision Review System.”

Cook outlines the process of coming to the correct decision: “Once there is an appeal then the (DRS Timer) clock starts to run. They have 15 seconds, either the captain of the fielding side or affected batter, to give the review sign (a ‘T’ using their arms) and from there on it gets referred up to the third umpire.”

It is here where all the technologies, like Hawkeye, come to the fore – enabling the match officials to, in no time, make the correct decision with unquestionable accuracy.

“A feint inside edge that would never be picked up by the human ear can, all of a sudden, be picked up by the Ultra-edge technology,” said Cook.

“In the end, the decision gets communicated back to the on-field umpire and then goes up on the big-screen to indicate ‘Out’ or ‘Not out’ and the right decision gets made. The right player gets the runs or wickets and the right team wins the match at the end of the day.”