KEY POINTS:
Congratulations to the ICC for quickly amending the rule that only allowed for the break between innings to be reduced to 30 minutes should a game be affected by weather. Now, for the rest of the ODI series between England and New Zealand, umpires can reduce the time between innings further should inclement weather require it.
The amendment was motivated by the perceived injustice to the Black Caps when last Wednesday's game was abandoned one over short of the required 20 completed overs that constitutes a completed match. Had the unnecessary 30-minute interval between innings been reduced or more appropriately had there been a 10-minute change of innings, then time would have allowed the game to end in a result.
The quick amendment shows quick action from an organisation that can be slow to move but it is still a reactive action. I would like to see the ICC be more pro-active.
Certainly the law must evolve and that evolution is partly in response to situations that install a sense of injustice, just like in Wednesday's game. But surely everyone involved with that game could foresee the possibility of further rain delays and, with England having posted a reasonable total, it would have been in everyone's favour and also prudent to continue with the game without delay. Nobody would have objected and yet the umpires were bound by the existing regulations.
There was a party present at that game who could have made a difference if only he was given the power to show common sense and enterprise - the match manager. Once labelled the match referee, which also more accurately describes what he appears to do, he is the ICC official charged with overseeing the game. All his role appears to involve now is dishing out fines for unruly behaviour and filing paperwork on other officials in the match. Give him more power. You can't have match managers running rampant - they must work within the framework of the existing rulebook - but allow them the freedom to interpret and administer cricket law in a way that allows for common sense.
In keeping with the letter of the law an injustice was performed on Wednesday. A match manager should ensure that sort of thing does not occur. A match manager with authority would have kept the game going for another over or ensured a quick turnaround.
At the infamous World Cup final in the Caribbean, the match manager should have seen that the equation for the reduction of overs following the first rain delay was not going to result in a large enough reduction in overs (given local daylight hours) to ensure the game could finish in appropriate light. For goodness sake, it is not like any Tom, Dick or Harry becomes a match manager. These people are hand-picked on the basis of cricket experience, respect from their peers and the expectation that they will be hard but fair.
Give them the level of jurisdiction they deserve and the game requires.
