Hawk-Eye officials admit error in Shan Masood dismissal

Shan Masood and New Zealand await the third umpire’s verdict

In a meeting held at the ICC office in Dubai, Hawk-Eye officials have said that a mistake was committed when Pakistan opener Shan Masood was given leg-before wicket in the second Test of the 3-match series in Dubai last month. It is understood that Hawk-Eye officials have accepted their mistake and told Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq and team manager Moin Khan that the projection used by their technology for the LBW decision was incorrect.

Pakistan not amused by Hawk-Eye error

The 25-year-old left-hander was rapped on the pads by a swinging yorker from Trent Boult and was given out by on-field umpire Paul Reiffel. After having a chat with his partner Younis Khan, Masood decided to review the decision. However, Hawk-Eye’s projected path showed that the ball had swung back in to hit the leg stump after pitching in front of it, instead of going on with the angle. Since it was a fast swinging delivery and not a slower one, it should’ve gone on with the angle.

The Pakistanis were clearly not amused and asked the ICC if they could have a word with the team that managed the technology to find out more about the decision. Hawk-Eye officials did admit their mistake in the meeting last week, which was first reported by Abu Dhabi newspaper The National. However, officials have also said that had the projected path been right, the ball would’ve still clipped leg stump and therefore the umpire’s decision would’ve been upheld.

Not enough cameras

They added that the incident was a unique situation of the operator making an input error, which led to the mistake. Moin Khan and Misbah were told that only four, and not the usual six, cameras covered the vital few frames in the ball’s flight, which led to the projection going wrong.

Pakistan had faced a similar situation in the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup against India when Sachin Tendulkar was given out LBW off the bowling of Saeed Ajmal. Tendulkar reviewed it and replays showed that the ball was going on to miss the stumps. In that case, Hawk-Eye officials had released a statement in defence of their technology.

Here’s a video of that dismissal: