The safety of umpires standing in the line of fire has been a matter of concern for the International Cricket Council. To strengthen the safety measures, a new safety equipment for the officials has been unveiled in the Australia- West Indies warm-up match recently.
Umpire Bruce Oxenford has debuted the latest innovation in umpire safety in Australia's World T20 warm-up game: a forearm shield. Australian umpire Oxenford wore the protective equipment at Eden Gardens on Sunday on his left arm as the ICC and the cricket bodies continue to explore new ways to protect standing officials in T20 cricket. Cricket Australia has recently tweeted
Looked to be made of clear Perspex, the shield is strapped to Oxenford's non-dominant signaling arm, and can be used to parry and block shots fired back in the umpire's direction.
With the batsmen fiercely hitting the ball in the shortest format, it becomes difficult for the standing umpire to evade the ball coming straight at him. The reaction time is so less that the ball often hits the umpire and it might cause serious injuries to him.
In a match between India and Australia, Australian umpire John Ward was hospitalized when he was stuck in the head. That incident led to fellow Australian Gerard Abood wearing a helmet during the KFC Big Bash League, and when Ward returned to duty, he also donned the headwear.
ICC are supplying helmets to all the umpires at the World T20
The ICC have since followed suit, supplying all umpires at the World T20 with helmets, though they're not obligated to wear them. One senior umpire Richard Kettelborough was also struck on the leg during Australia's home ODI series against India in January.
He pointed out, “Our safety, as with the players, is paramount. The non-strikers are in danger too, as is the bowler in his follow-through, there's no doubt about that.It's only a matter of time before someone gets hit quite badly.”
It is quite a rational move by the ICC to bring in new innovations in the game to safeguard the officials. In a slam-bang version like T20, it’s quite necessary to have protective equipment for them otherwise it might cause a serious accident any day. That won’t surely be a good advertisement for the gentleman’s game.
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