CRICKETING MATTERS : Jettisoning of ‘wide ball’ law in Tests

About a decade or two back if a bowler bowled the ball so high over or so wide of the wicket and in the opinion of the bowler’s end umpire if the ball passed out of reach of the striker, standing in a normal guard position, the umpire would call and signal ‘wide ball’ as soon as it passed the line of the striker’s wicket.

The umpire did not call and signal wide if the striker, by moving from his guard position caused the ball to pass out of his reach. Also, if the striker moved to bring the ball within his reach it would not qualify to be called wide.

The dimensions of the stumps, bails, popping crease, bowling crease, return crease have remained unaltered for all formats of the game viz. Test, ODI or t20. The bowling crease for a bowler which is four feet four inches on either side of the middle stump or the popping crease which is eight feet eight inches across four feet away from the line joining the stumps and parallel to it, and the return crease on each end of the creases four feet front and back of the edge of each bowling crease have all remained historically intact.

Currently if the umpire adjudges a delivery to be wide he calls and signals as soon as the ball passes the striker’s wicket. The previous verbal loading of the wide Ball law has been cut down and the onus of judging the width of the delivery rests upon the judgment of the umpire.

The most noteworthy ‘landmark’ that has become a delineation for both the bowler and the bowler’s end umpire is the four feet line which is drawn thirty five inches on either side of the middle stump on the bowler’s crease meeting the popping crease in the front. The two lines help the umpire immensely to arrive at correct decisions for judging a wide ball. While this line on the off side for a batsman is critical anything bowled away from leg stump immediately is penalized as a wide. It is important for the umpire to judge soundly whether the ball is coming into the batsman or going away from him especially when the ball is in line with the marking for the wide ball.

In Tests the wide ball rule is to a majority extent given a short shrift by the umpires for reasons beyond this writer’s comprehension. There are numerous times in each innings of a match when the bowler physically delivers the ball out of reach of the batsman. To such crassness which is often intentional the umpires seem to turn a blind eye. Any delivery that is not within the realm of possible reach of the batsman ought to be penalized instantly. The wide ball law empowers the umpires total jurisdiction into calling and signaling wide without equivocation. Umpires of yester year thought that ruling a wide with regard to Test matches was unnecessary. The trend seems to have rubbed off on present day adjudicators. They have acquired the mindset of the old. It is time that the present day umpires truly become cognizant of the actual interpretation of this law and begin to judge a wide ball strictly on the quality of the delivery – Test or no Test.

Umpires who err into making atrocious decisions with regard to LBW – be they out or not out – immediately come under scrutiny of the ‘third eye’. While India has castigated and rejected the UDRS (umpires’ decision referral system) it behoves upon the ICC to strike a uniformity across the board and impose the system through and through. Is this not ‘colonisation’ of cricket? For Umpires who make ‘hideous’ mistakes does ICC conduct a review and reappraisal of their actions?

If not, it is time they did that. If yes, there is no reason why the umpires should repeat their mistakes.

A side batting first scores 148 runs in an ODI. The side batting second is 9 for 148 with the last ball of the 50th over to be bowled yet. The bowler delivers the last ball. Bowler’s umpire calls ‘Wide’. The batsmen go for a run. The striker is run out. However, the batting side wins by a run because the penalty for a wide i.e. one run stands. A wide ball, though disconcerting, may cause a team’s undoing.