Umpire’s call and Bavuma the captain

South Africa have appointed a new captain for their limited overs squad. It will be Temba Bavuma. He has taken over from Quinton De Kock after de Kock had had a horror run in Pakistan with the bat as well as being the captain. Even during that series, it was decided to replace de Kock as the captain. Honestly, de Kock did not have the credential to captain the South African team in any format of the game. Elsewhere, umpire’s call will have to be taken away. Let me analyse about umpire’s call and Bavuma the captain.

Temba Bavuma becomes the first African black to become the captain

In a country destroyed by years of apartheid, for a black to be playing for the South African cricket team is in itself a huge achievement. Bavuma went onto score a hundred in the first few games and increased expectations to a fever pitch. However, he had a slump post that hundred and he hasn’t come out of that slump till now. It is clear that if he hadn’t been a black African player, he would have been dropped. Now, he has become the captain of the limited overs team. I cannot help feel that he has become the captain for want of better option. Otherwise, if performance alone is the criteria, Bavuma certainly does not qualify.

Graeme Smith said

“We wanted a captain in the white-ball format, which is Temba, and we felt that Dean was the best man for the Test side – and he will work with Temba as vice-captain to try to create continuity.”

Only time will tell whether captaincy will rejuvenate Bavuma and whether he will become a much better batsman.

DRS and umpire’s call

Even since DRS was introduced, umpire’s call has had a major role to play in a lot of decisions. It has always been controversial because when DRS shows the ball to be hitting the stumps, even a small part of the ball, what role does umpire’s call have?

Pat Cummins is completely against umpire’s call

“They measure the 50 per cent of the ball not from the top of the bail, but from the line you see from the top of the stump,” Cummins said.

“So you almost need 70 per cent of the ball. It brings down the area you’ve got to be hitting the stumps to quite small.

“It almost has to be a half-volley for someone who’s quite tall, or you have to be bowling so straight from stump to stump.

“Nathan Lyon bowling here in Australia obviously gets quite a lot of bounce — it’s so hard for him to get an lbw.”

He has some valid points. It is tough on tall fast bowlers and on wickets with lot of bounce. It remains to be seen whether the ICC will completely remove the umpire’s call from DRS.