ZING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING

Innovation and cutting-edge technology are at the core of everything Betway SA20 strives to bring to South African cricket and the use of Zing flashing wickets was an exciting example of that during Season 2.

During the successful inaugural season of South Africa’s premier T20 cricket league, the eye-catching Zing stumps and bails were only used in the playoffs, but this year they were used at all six venues and in all 34 matches. Some batters probably had nightmares of flashing lights!

“For anybody who watched any of the games on TV or in the stadium, the effects when somebody gets bowled and the lights go off is really dramatic,” says Stephen Cook, SA20’s Head of Cricket Operations about the Australian invented system.

Furthermore, the Zings aren’t just some gimmick to excite fans with, there are some key operational benefits too.

“From an umpiring and match officials’ point of view… as soon as the bails are removed the umpire will know the stumps are broken and can see if a batter is in or out of their ground,” Cook adds.

The key to the system is a microprocessor in each Zing bail which detects when both spigots (bail ‘ends’) have become dislodged from the stump grooves. The Zing illuminates within 1/1000th of a second.

While that may sound quite technical, the process for getting the system up-and-running before a match is rather quick.

“Just before the play starts, a technician will come out to the middle and use a special tool to activate each Zing bail and the stumps so that they don’t lose charge during a game.”