Cricket: Fielding in the covers not for the faint-hearted

Ground staff and volunteers attempt to keep their hold on a giant cover in 100km/h winds yesterday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

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The day after complaining that the Umpire Decision Review System used in test cricket was "inconsistent", New Zealand got one in their favour yesterday, all thanks to a Wellington northerly that buffeted the Basin Reserve at upwards of 130km/h.

The controversial incident happened shortly after lunch when Brendon McCullum, on 52, was hit on the pads by Australian spinner Nathan Hauritz. He was given not out by umpire Asad Rauf and the Australians referred it to the UDRS. An agonising wait occurred while the technicians tried to get the relevant data to superimpose on the screen, but the automated ball-tracking cameras fixed to the tower at the southern end of the ground had moved.

Despite the standard replay pictures looking grim for McCullum, the umpires had to stick with their on-field decision. "The ball-tracking cameras were blown so badly by the wind, that they could not successfully track the ball through the air," James Cameron, Sky TV's executive producer for cricket, said. "I doubt any system would. Hawk-Eye would be no different. In that [McCullum] case, we weren't able to show what happened, so we didn't put it on air for that reason."

A team of technicians, working on behalf of the Virtual Eye company, relayed to Cameron that they had insufficient data to screen the delivery.

The system remained operational throughout the day and it was just a matter of luck whether the wind died down enough at the time of delivery for the cameras to remain still.

"We treated [each delivery] on a case-by-case basis."

Match referee Javagal Srinath, who had to deal with a complaint from Daniel Vettori after a UDRS decision on day three, said there was little you could do in such extraordinary circumstances.

There was entertainment earlier in the day as the ground staff tried to remove the covers. The wind lifted them like a well-filled spinnaker, sending one staffer on a wild 30m ride across the turf. Another ground worker was face-planted into the wicket as the covers took his legs out from under him.