Dean Jones wants an extra umpire on the field to call front foot no-balls instantaneously

The umpiring errors are being highlighted more in the recent past in cricket. While the technology has been introduced to overturn the howlers, the no-balls are being missed very frequently. Normally, when the batsman gets out, the on-field officials check his front foot with the third umpire’s consultation. But other than that, the no-balls are never checked and clearly, the umpires have missed quite a few recently.

In the World Cup as well, there were a few such error from the umpires and the most glaring one was Chris Gayle’s wicket. The ball before off which he got out was a clear no-ball from Mitchell Starc and the umpire Chris Gaffaney completely missed it. Gayle then wouldn’t have got out as it would’ve deemed a free hit.

While using the technology to check the front foot no-balls will take a lot of time, the former Australia cricketer Dean Jones feels that an extra umpire should be present on the ground to make such calls. “We need another umpire on the ground. Now why? Because there are too many no-balls that are being missed in every game,” he said while speaking to the official website of Global T20 Canada.

It will cost a lot of money

According to Jones, if the technology is used to call front foot no-balls, it will cost a lot of money and time. He also pointed out that the no-ball call, in that case, wouldn’t be instantaneous which isn’t beneficial for the batting team. “Now, the technology you need for a no-ball – the infra-red and all that they do for tennis – costs money. And it’s not instantaneous. Let me tell you why that matters. If I’m the coach of Islamabad United and I have one of my batsmen, say, Andre Russell, on strike.

“If he takes a single, goes to the other end, and then the technology comes back and says ‘that was a no-ball’ – I don’t want Andre Russell taking that single. He is the biggest hitter in the game. He needs to be on strike. So we need instantaneous calls,” Jones further added.

The cricketer turned commentator and coach also went on to explain that the best position for the umpire would be to stand behind the non-striker as he will get a clear view of the bowler’s foot. “My first logical thought is that he stands behind the non-striker. He can see straight away if it’s a no-ball. The main umpire can’t see a no-ball most of the time because the bowler’s right hip covers their front foot. So the umpires are guessing sometimes.

“But if an umpire stands behind the non-striker, he’ll see everything. Back foot, front foot, everything. And you know what? What’s the cost of an extra umpire compared to the technology? So I want to have another umpire down there,” the 58-year-old concluded.