light in the middle ! - Stumps, bails glitter !!

This light in the middle is attractive !!

 

For those of us watching Cricket matches on TV for hours – what a transformation from the days of mid 1970s to the modern day telecast.  The game  Cricket has changed a lot – so also the technology.  

Way back in 1975 when West Indies toured India, remember seeing the Test match both at the venue and then on TV screen.  Those were the days of B&W televisions – Telerama, Solidaire, Dyanora were some of the brands.  There was only one Doordarshan – only channel.  At National Boys High School, Triplicane,  a television set was placed and they charged a measly [or was it princely amount of those days] of 50 paise for a place.  India beat the West Indies on the Pongal Test and leave was announced by the State Govt. to celebrate the occasion.

 

The most distinguishable feature of coverage was there would only one camera – yes -  you can see the bowler running in from the Wallajah road end and the back view of batsmen, wicket keeper and the slip cardon.  In the next over, when the bowling is from the Pavilion end, you cannot see the face of the  bowler – only his run-up, but the batsmen and wicketkeeper can be seen.    It continued for so many years until cameras at both ends were introduced in Australia in 1977. 

When Bishan Bedi toured Australia and lost a thrilling series 2- 3 playing a depleted side led by Bob Simpson, there would be no live coverage but around 9 pm, a week or fortnight after the match – half an hour capsule would be shown.  There were  slow-motion action replay of wickets and close appeals.  That slo-mo was really appealing to watch – you can imagine Bishan Bedi trundling a few steps, slowly bending his hip, hands going over and releasing the red cherry in a loop – poetry in action. 

This is no memoirs of the past but about recent technology – the glittering stumps!. 

In cricket, the stumps are the three vertical posts that support the bails and form the wicket.  Other than getting caught,  a batsman is  run out, stumped, bowled or given out hit wicket when either the stumps are uprooted or at least one of the bails is knocked off the top of the stumps.  Stumping or being stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman.

 

Stumps are very important in the game of cricket as they determine when the wicket is "put down". The instant the bails are dislodged from the top of the stumps, the wicket is put down – to say that there are three stumps at each end, with two bails sitting across the top of them would be too elementary for any Cricket lover.  The stumps are 28 inches high above the ground and are equally spaced to cover a width of nine inches. On a windy day the Umpires may use heavier bails, or in extremely high winds, they may choose to play without bails altogether.  However, the Umpire  calling stumps means the play is over for the day. 

The overall width of each wicket is 9 inches (22.9 cm). Each stump is 28 inches (71.1 cm) tall with maximum and minimum diameters of 11⁄2 inches (3.81 cm) and 13⁄8 inches (3.49 cm). They have a spike at one end for inserting into the ground, and the other end has a U-shaped 'through groove' to provide a resting place for the bails.  They are called Off Stump, Middle and Leg stump – on either side of the wicket – relative names to the batsman – thus a Right hander’s leg stump is off for a leftie.    

Over the years there have been attempts to bring technology but also to make the game more spectacular.  After the boring mono-colour stumps, now comes stumps that would indicate   a pulsating scroll of purple and blue lights in between overs.   

Energy, enthusiasm, or liveliness =  ‘Zing’.  In 1980s – on Poonamalle High Road, after Arun Hotel, before DG Vaishnav college, as one crossed Govt Sidha hospital, was ‘Goldspot’ factory -  ‘goldspot – the zing thing’ – was the catchy tune advertisement.   Regular Cricket views know it too well with Zing bails – when the delivery or throw or the keeper’s glouse hits the stumps – and when the bails goes off, they flash aluminous red.  Traditionally stumps and bails are made from wood, but the new flashing wickets are made from a composite plastic, which are embedded with LED lights. The use of flashing wickets in international matches has been in vogue for few years  now.   A bail is only completely dislodged when both spigots have separated from their stump grooves. A microprocessor in each Zing detects when both  spigots have become dislodged from the stump grooves. The Zing illuminates within 1/1000th of a second. 

Down under is “Big Bash League (BBL)”, Australia's domestic T20 tournament on the lines of the Indian Premier League (IPL).  BBL recently has introduced Electra Stumps. The stumps, which glow in different colours for different instances, had already been in use in Women's BBL. They made their debut during the game 11 of the season between Adelaide Strikes and Sydney Sixers. 

The Electra stumps have different colours when a six or a four is hit. Apart from the boundaries, the stumps also signal no-ball with a different colour and on batters getting out as well. The last and fifth instance of a colour scheme is between the overs - called pulse scheme.   

Batter Dismissal: Stumps flash red colour then fire from the bottom

Four: Colours shift horizontally from left to right to mark a four.

Six: Colours scroll up and down to mark a six on the stumps.

No-ball: Stumps first show red colour then white colour to inform about the instance.

Between overs: The stumps show purple and blue colour scrolling up and down as the change of bowler happens. 

So it is lot pulsating – not sure whether Electra Stumps would be on view on IPL too where we have lot of technology in the form of zing bails, Spider Camera and more.

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
1.3.2024