Technology has improved umpiring massively, feels Steve Bucknor
Bucknor was at the recieving end of many brickbats
|ICC
Former ICC Umpire Steve Bucknor has stated that the Decision Review System has developed the standard of umpiring in international cricket. The former ICC Elite Panel umpire has further added that knowing that a decision can be corrected on the field has also helped the umpire's mental state.
One of the finest yet controversial umpires of his time, Steve Bucknor retired umpired in 128 Test matches, more than anyone else in the history of cricket and stood in five successive World Cup finals. From the amount of experience he has it is understandable that few judge the sport better than. But towards the backend of the career, he received more than a few brickbats when his decisions got awfully wrong but Bucknor is happy that the current age umpires wonāt have to deal with such situations thanks to DRS in place.
"I am not certain if it affects the confidence of umpires, but I know it has improved umpiring. It has improved umpiring because there was a time when we were saying the batsman was so-called playing down the line, therefore he is not going to be given out leg before, but if the technology is saying the ball is hitting, then you have to give him out. So, we learn from technology,ā Bucknor said on the Mason and Guests radio programme in Barbados, reported Cricbuzz.
"The umpires who do not enjoy having technology around, I hope that they have a rethink. What it does if you make a mistake it can be corrected on the field. Now thinking about when I was umpiring and I gave a batsman out who was not out, realizing I made a mistake it took a long time to fall asleep that night. Now you can fall asleep quickly because the correct decision is eventually given."
While his record in Tests is still gargantuan, only David Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen have umpired more than his 181 ODIs, making Bucknor a celebrated umpire of all-time.
