Former ICC Elite Panel umpire Ian Gould has said he feels "desperately sorry" for "inexperienced" Women's World Cup umpiring panel following several controversial decisions during the tournament group stage.
Speaking on the Wisden Women's Cricket Weekly podcast in an interview which will air later this week, Gould – who officiated in 350 matches across men's and women's international cricket – criticised the ICC for appointing an inexperienced officiating panel. The ICC announced a 10-member, all-female umpiring panel for the World Cup. However, only three of those umpires had stood as a TV umpire in more than 20 ODIs with DRS available before the tournament, while three had never been a TV umpire in an ODI using DRS.
Several controversial decisions by TV umpires marked the group stage. The most notable happened during Heather Knight's innings-rescuing knock against Bangladesh, in which she was given three reprieves. Speaking after the game in relation to a low catch by Shorna Akhter which was adjudged to not have carried by TV umpire Gayathri Venugopalan, Knight said: "I thought it carried and thought it was a fair catch, which is why I walked off."
Other incidents included Muneeba Ali's run out during the India v Pakistan clash, and Sneh Rana's dismissal in Australia's match against India.
'I feel desperately sorry for those ladies'
"I’ve got friends who say, ‘you’re only sitting in front of a telly, how can you get this so wrong?’" Gould told Wisden Women's Cricket Weekly podcast. "My argument to some of this is; (a) their lack of experience, and that’s not their fault, and (b) you’re only as good as your director. If your director is good, he or she will point you the right way, but if they are inexperienced as well, because there’s an awful lot of cricket going on around the world at the moment besides the World Cup, maybe it’s just a lack of knowledge.
"But I will reiterate this, I feel desperately sorry for those ladies. It’s a great thing that it’s an all ladies’ campaign and I’ve always been for that, certainly in England. But you’ve got to be prepared. It’s a big stage the World Cup, it’s huge."
None of the officials for the tournament were drawn from the ICC's Elite Panel, which has never featured a female umpire. Most of the panel is made up of members of the ICC's Emerging Group – a development squad who have been identified as the most deserving of a stretch of opportunities. However, a combination of inexperience and DRS still not being consistently used in women's internationals means half of the panel had acted as a TV umpire in five or fewer matches with the technology available.
"There are umpire coaches in the ICC but they can’t work miracles in the two weeks leading up to the World Cup," said Gould. "There are warm-up games and you’ll go through everything there. We’ve got Stuart Cummings who is a brilliant coach, but he wouldn’t have had time to fit it all in with 10 umpires, and it’s a long tournament. I feel for them, I really do feel for them."
'The more you look at it, the worse it becomes'
Pressures on TV umpires have increased as technology in the game has moved forward. TV Umpires are now heard on broadcasts and in stadiums, as well as often filmed while making their decisions. "On-field is easier than off-field, and I never thought I’d say that, but all you do now [on-field] is draw a square and over to you," said Gould.
"The more you look at it, the worse it becomes. You keep looking for things, but you can probably see within two viewings, whether it’s out or not out. But the problem is, in your mind, you want to get this right and you’re live on TV here. I don’t know how many people are watching, but that is the nagging bit is ‘how can I get this wrong, I’ve got to get this right’... We were told in the very early days, if you get to three [angles] you’re going to struggle. You’re going to start panicking and that’s a horrible feeling."
The full interview with Gould will be available later this week on Wisden Women's Cricket Weekly podcast, which will be available on all Wisden podcast feeds.
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