Mumbai city umpires empowered to report bowlers with suspect actions

As Mumbai cricketers eagerly await the start of a new season with the Kanga League scheduled for August 2, the MCA's umpires too are gearing up to implement the latest playing conditions and laws

As Mumbai cricketers eagerly await the start of a new season with the Dr HD Kanga Cricket League scheduled for August 2, the Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) umpires too are gearing up to implement the latest playing conditions and laws in India's only monsoon cricket tournament.


MCA qualified umpires attend an orientation programme at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate 

Yesterday, 154 MCA qualified umpires congregated at the Azad Maidan for an orientation programme. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) panel umpires Rajesh Deshpande, Paschim Pathak and Anil Dandekar guided other umpires on how to raise the level of umpiring.

Suspect action policy
The MCA also decided to initiate a suspect action policy. Umpires are empowered to report bowlers with suspect actions to the MCA along with the match observer's report which a committee will act on.

Ganesh Iyer, Secretary of Board of Umpires (MCA umpires' sub-committee), who initiated this programme, told mid-day, "As of now, MCA has 97 unqualified umpires who were doing this job from the last eight years. However, to maintain the standard of umpiring in the forthcoming Kanga League, only qualified umpires will be officiating matches in the month of August."

At present, MCA has 154 qualified umpires but Iyer who is also a managing committee member and ex-BCCI panel umpire, said: "The lack of consistency in applying the playing conditions is a major concern. To overcome this, we have set a two-year target."

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