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Friday, March 21, 2014

India beat Pakistan in T20 WC ... illuminated wickets when broken

Happy India beat Pakistan … Mishra is Man of the match… Lot happening at Bangladesh………. At Mirpur, India coasting to another victory over Pakistan in World Cup…  before that a target of 150+ is considered good in T20s … close to 200 is match winning…. They had to chase 190 ~ and for qualifying – to achieve that in 14.2 i.e., in 86 balls – impossible one would say instantly……….. Ireland was left heart-broken as Netherlands achieved the impossible in style – scoring that in 13.5 overs losing just 4 wickets and qualifying to the Super 10.  

Indian bowlers especially Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja ensured that Indians would have nothing of that sort… they had to chase 130 … and they did achieve that easily.  Off the last ball of the Pak innings, Maqsood belted to long-on and scampered for 2, Jadeja’s throw zeroed in correctly for Mahendra Dhoni to break the stumps….. a run out…  Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket. A batsman is ‘Run out’  if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing side.

Proverbially Cricket writers repeat the cliché ‘setting the ground ablaze’ whenever there is a great batting performance…. But heard of ‘stumps ablaze’ when broken………. It is happening now … in fact when Dhoni broke the stumps, the bails and stumps glittered !!! wonder, how .. read on !!

Powered by hidden low voltage batteries, once the wicket is broken, the bails instantaneously flash bright red thanks to LED lights and send a radio signal to the stumps which also light up. That is all about technology enlightening spectator and more importantly helping in judging properly a run out or stumping.  International Cricket Council (ICC) has followed Cricket Australia (CA) in literally lighting up the stumps and bails during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament here in Bangladesh. In 2012, CA announced that they are enhancing spectator experience at the Big Bash League Twenty20 tournament by adding LED stumps and bails which illuminate when dislodged.

We saw that for the first time in the India-Sri Lanka warm-up game; it is  "The Zing Wicket System, created by South Australian manufacturer Zing International; it has a sensor in the bails that can determine within 1/1000 of a second when the wicket is broken”. Once the wicket is broken the bails instantaneously flash bright red LED lights and then send a radio signal to the stumps which also ignite. They are powered by low voltage batteries in each of the bails and also in the stumps."  - so just like the graphic equalizer dancing with lights, the technology of light emitting diodes, light up the wickets.   The technology still would not determine whether it was Dhoni’s hand or the ball which broke the stumps and whether he had the ball in the gloves at the time of breaking the stumps. 

So another precise moment – one can see the illumination and determine whether any part of the bat or body of the batsman was inside the crease at the time of impact to decide on run out; as also stumping.  So, from now on, when victorious, the players will not be able to run away with the stumps as souvenirs ~ because it is no longer ordinary timber – but one decked with LED lights.  The high-tech stumps, marketed as ‘Zings’ by an Australian firm, are expensive and thus precious. “We have $40,000 worth of patented technology out on the field at each game and that is a lot of money. Each bail costs as much as an iPhone. We can’t afford to give them away to players at the end of a game,” says Zings inventor Bronte Eckermann.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

21st Mar 2014.

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