ARL News

Umpire Referral System

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Category: ARL News

On Wednesday 23 July 2008, for the first time in the history of Test cricket, players appealed for decisions to be referred to the third umpire.  The Test match in Colombo, between India and Sri Lanka (the first in a three match series) became the first ever in which batsmen and fielders had the opportunity to ask for the assistance of television replay's. ARL's Virtual Eye ball-tracking technology was used, as it holds a pre-existing contract with the broadcaster, Ten Sports. The implementation in Tests comes after MCC’s World Cricket Committee recommended greater technological support for umpires, during its meeting in Cape Town in September 2007. The MCC has been the official consultant to the ICC in relation to the independent testing of technology.

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Tony Lewis (Chairman of MCC’s World Cricket Committee), Mike Griffith (Chairman of MCC's Cricket Committee) and Fraser Stewart (MCC’s Laws & Universities Manager), travelled to Colombo with Simon Normington, an independent television expert, to undertake the testing. They measured Virtual Eye’s accuracy under the scrutiny of Doug Cowie, ICC’s Umpires and Referees Manager, and the officials for the match – Rudi Koertzen, Mark Benson, Billy Doctrove and Alan Hurst (Match Referee). Rahul Dravid, who sits on MCC's World Cricket Committee, saw the technology for himself during the testing and was impressed by its accuracy.

Tony Lewis said: “We are pleased to be putting our recommendations into practice.  It was important that Virtual Eye was tested independently and objectively – coming to Sri Lanka has enabled us to do that.  The standard of umpiring at Test level is so high we feel confident referrals will be few and far between, but it is right that, if a player does want to ask a question, the third umpire can have maximum confidence in the technology he has to make the decision."

Sir Bu Naair Dhow Race

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Category: ARL News

Animation Research Limited has just completed successful testing in Dubai for what is arguably one of the richest yacht races in the world. The annual Sir Bu Naair Dhow boat race off the coast of Dubai featured over one hundred of the traditional sailing boats with prize money in excess of $2.5 million. The wooden dhows are capable of speed in excess of 20 knots and this year, for the first time, they were tracked using the technology that has been used by ARL since 1992 on the Americas Cup, The Volvo Ocean Race and the World Match Racing Tour. 'It was a real eye opener,' says Paul Sharp (ARL programmer/developer). 'You think you have seen it all with an event like the Americas Cup and the wealth that surrounds it, and then you experience an event like this. The dhows seemed to turn up out of nowhere, line up at the start line out in the Gulf and 6 -7 hours later they are handing out prize money in excess of $2 million! It was amazing.'

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The trial came at the request of the Dubai International Marine Club after a team from ARL had earlier completed successful tracking of 12 off shore power boats at the WPPA Class 3 Power Boat Championship, another major international event staged by the DIMC. 'The team had to pull both trials together at very short notice but they went extremely well' says ARL Managing Director Ian Taylor. 'We have now been asked to gear up to track a combination of 30 Class 1 and Class 3 power boats at the end of this year as well as the entire 100 plus fleet of dhows for next years race. '