South Africa v England, 4th Test, Jo’burg, Jan 14-18

Not so. Tiny edges never deviate, the umpire gives it on sound.

Shoeshine wrote:Well, you can understand an unhappiness about that - clearly Smith hit it. Nicks behind have been missed by umpires for time immemorial, so it's not a new thing there. The thing I don't understand about the review thing is why (lacking hotspot and snicko) the third umpire refuses to go by the sound? That's what the on field umpire does anyway, so why not the third umpire?

Yeah, and yesterday according to the comments here Morkel was clearly over the line.

Sight AND sound Shoey ...

Re Sniffer ... he's not a walker - so move on.

The ball must be seen to be hitting the bat ..you dont look for deviations

taipan wrote:

Shoeshine wrote:Well, you can understand an unhappiness about that - clearly Smith hit it. Nicks behind have been missed by umpires for time immemorial, so it's not a new thing there. The thing I don't understand about the review thing is why (lacking hotspot and snicko) the third umpire refuses to go by the sound? That's what the on field umpire does anyway, so why not the third umpire?

Yeah, and yesterday according to the comments here Morkel was clearly over the line.

Yeah, but it SOUNDED like his foot was over the line . . .

It was hard to see the line after Trev dropped all that sand on it

No, because thin edges do not deviate! If you looked for that, you'd only give about one in ten nicks to the keeper. So the umpire gives it on sound - that's simple reality.

Merlin wrote:Sight AND sound Shoey ...

Re Sniffer ... he's not a walker - so move on.

Don't blame him for not walking - why on earth should he?

Harper apparently didn't have the same feed and couldn't hear anything. Madness. Decisions being made depending on whether the broadcaster provide a sound feed or not?

You look at the ball/bat proximity whilst keeping the ears peeled mate.

hence queries like ball kissing shirt sleeve are not given out - as with Gonions in his 11 ball marathon last test.

No it's not Shoey

The umpire has to see something resembling an edge ...and then uses sound as a backup

I doubt an umpire would hear too many nicks at a test ground with a crowd going off `

Merlin wrote:You look at the ball/bat proximity whilst keeping the ears peeled mate.

hence queries like ball kissing shirt sleeve are not given out - as with Gonions in his 11 ball marathon last test.

Yes, and when there's no deviation you make a judgement based on the sound. You look to see if the bat's adjacent, sure, but you give the decision on the sound.

Merls agrees with me ...we must be right

welcome to being right , Merlo

embee wrote:No it's not Shoey

The umpire has to see something resembling an edge ...and then uses sound as a backup

I doubt an umpire would hear too many nicks at a test ground with a crowd going off `

Sorry, that's utter nonsense. Loads of edges show no deviation whatsoever. If they aren't given on sound, how does the umpire give it? Telepathy?

I believe that asking for a fine edge catch behind to be reviewed in Saffer land is a total waste of a referral.

SATV (?) do not have Snicko nor Hot Spot and for the 3rd ump to freeze frame a 750 pixel screen looking for a feather edge I'd imagine, is almost impossible.

And Trev - I think you might find that it's not upto the ICC to provide a TV station's camermen with all the gadgetry that would ensure one Saffer was given out!

FOCUS , shoey

The umpire is looking at the bat/ball ...you can see what the ball has hit even if it doesn't deviate ...sound is a guide (if you can hear anything) and cant be used on its own