A zillion times we must have gotten absolutely irked by an appalling umpiring decision! You wouldn’t believe me then, if I were to tell you that once upon a time, in domestic cricket, the umpires were bullied by the captains. Trust me, as blasphemous as it sounds, it is true. Indeed it was, a ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ situation. In those days the quality of umpiring was judged by the captain’s report.
The report consisted of giving marks to umpires on various aspects like their control over the proceedings, their positioning, their decisions etc. A lot of players knew the power at their disposal and used it to suit their needs. They would write favorable reports only if the umpires obliged on the field.
Thus came in the ‘match referees’ to put things in perspective and put an end to it. Yet the captain’s continued to write their report at the end of the match, which, obviously wasn’t the final word on their umpiring anymore. But all was not bad with the captain’s report.
Firstly, not everyone was bullying the umpires and secondly, all umpires were not bad and hence didn’t give in to pressure. That also kept the players involved and allowed them to write their comments in case something went extremely wrong. It was followed by annual captains meeting with the board officials. It was an opportunity for the players to air their views and for the board to get first hand information on what was ailing domestic cricket and how to work towards improving it.
Now, with the advent of the cameras (six cameras are installed in all games) ‘umpire’s coach’ has also been brought in. His role is to monitor every single decision made by the on-field umpires. They have access to the video coverage throughout the game. Everything to do with umpiring is now under the purview of the umpires coach and other issues fall in match referee’s domain. This restructuring has now put an end to the captain’s report, which in my view had its own advantages. Completely doing away with it has taken an important right away from the player.
{{/usCountry}}Now, with the advent of the cameras (six cameras are installed in all games) ‘umpire’s coach’ has also been brought in. His role is to monitor every single decision made by the on-field umpires. They have access to the video coverage throughout the game. Everything to do with umpiring is now under the purview of the umpires coach and other issues fall in match referee’s domain. This restructuring has now put an end to the captain’s report, which in my view had its own advantages. Completely doing away with it has taken an important right away from the player.
{{/usCountry}}Logically, the presence of the umpire’s coach would have ensured that captains wrote a fair report. After all whatever they write must be backed with video evidence. This would also keep a good check on the captain’s credibility. No longer could you say that umpiring was ‘poor’ just because you lost the game.
I’d propose a different kind of ‘captain’s report’. Instead of giving the umpires marks one could rank the facilities. It should have a column to write about an issue which a team wants to bring into board’s notice. There’re incidents when a team feels a need to voice their unhappiness but there’s no platform to voice them. Captain’s report has the power to put things in perspective in black and white.