Chances of using Hot Spot in 2011 World Cup quite dim: BBG Sports’ owner
While the International Cricket Council is seriously thinking of using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) at the 2011 World Cup, the high cost of acquiring and utilising the ‘Hot Spot’ makes it unlikely to be part of the UDRS at next year’s quadrennial event.
Owing to its accuracy, the Hot Spot is a favoured technology by international players across the cricketing divide. It has been revealed that the high cost of acquiring and utilizing this technology along with the sensitive nature of the equipment and shortage of cameras makes the technology unfeasible to be in place by February 2010.
BBG sports is the only firm that supplies Hot Spot for the time being and the owner of the firm, Warren Brennan, revealed that currently, BBG only has four Hot Spot Camera’s. As a result, the owner opined that there are no chances of its availability for all 50 plus qualifying matches at the group stages. The owner however said that Hot Spot technology would be provided for the quarter-finals and onwards. The owner of BBG Sports also revealed that the quarter-final and semi-final games would feature two hot spot cameras apiece while the final in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 is expected to be played with all four Hot Spot cameras on the ground.
Brennan said that the issue has already been discussed with David http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Richardson-c85395, General Manager of the International Cricket Council some six weeks ago and the firm is still waiting for the governing body to reply. Brennan revealed that it takes at least four to six months to build a Hot Spot camera and there are hardly four to five companies in the world that have the technology to make such cameras. BBG’s owner said that if the ICC had any plans of featuring this technology in the entire tournament, an order for additional 8 to 10 cameras should have been placed earlier this year.
Brennan further added that Hot Spot cameras are classified as military equipment and the firm has to undergo a security check each time before buying a new one and the entire security process takes about three months to complete.
The Hot Spot Technology uses infra-red imaging to determine whether the ball has touched the bat, pad or any other object in the frame. It is quite an expensive technology and a two camera arrangement costs $6000 per day while the four camera setup can cost $10,000 per day. Warren Brennan has asked the International Cricket Council and its affiliated boards to help BBG Sports in reducing this cost.
Currently, the broadcasters are bearing the cost of using the Umpire Decision Review System’s equipment but they are not always able to do so. Brennan said that if the ICC wants to take the decision review system to newer levels, then it should find out the funding models and the financers.
ICC’s spokesperson on the other hand has said that Hot Spot is desirable but not a requirement. They believe that it is not the only technology being used for the Umpire Decision Review System. He said that the absence of Hot Spot does not mean that there would be no UDRS in the 2011 Cricket World Cup as the ICC has other options as well including Hawk-Eye (the ball tracking technology), a clean audio feed from the stump microphone and super slow-motion cameras.
The players however have favoured the Hot Spot due to its extraordinary accuracy. Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar recently spoke out in favour of the Hot Spot as he explicitly said that he prefers the Hot Spot technology over basic UDRS. The most capped Test cricketer said that he would prefer to go with Hot Spot as it is a far better system and establishes the contact between ball and the bat.
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