"Our operator went through the recalibration programme to realign the camera -- he thought he had successfully done that but as soon as he replayed the video with the track on it, he realised that it hadn't recalibrated correctly because the ball was now clipping the stump rather than missing it.
Virtual eye accepts goof up during Sydney Test
Ian Taylor, the MD of Virtual Eye - the tech company behind the DRS system has owned up to a major goof-up during the Sydney Test of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
During the 3rd Test in Sydney, an LBW appeal against Steve Smith was reviewed by India in the 2nd innings after the onfield umpire had given that not out. It looked quite close and in the replays, a fourth stump surfaced on the screen which made for a really bad viewing. There was an uproar in the social media due to that blip up but now the Operators of the Decision Review System have now admitted to the goof up.
"We reported that immediately to the people we work with at the ICC because it was a mistake on our part -- fortunately it did not affect the decision, the umpire was correct, but it should not have happened. We take full responsibility for that but the important thing was that the decision to stay with the umpires call was the correct one -- the real ball track did show the ball missed," Ian Taylor, the MD of Virtual Eye that operates DRS in Australia and New Zealand, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
It was the 12th over of Australia’s second innings in Sydney when a fourth stump mysteriously appeared on the screen. Former India batsman Aakash Chopra was not impressed with the gaffe and stated, "Have we heard any clarification from the authorities responsible for this? The mysterious fourth stump making an appearance on replays (sic),"
Meanwhile, Taylor clarified that why and what happened their actually. "We tracked the ball normally in our tracking system and it showed it missing the stumps. For the DRS the next step is to play the ball trackback, superimposed over the 'end on' broadcast TV camera when the 3rd umpire calls for it. At the start of play, we calibrate the two TV cameras at each end of the pitch to ensure they are perfectly aligned when we play our ball track over the live camera. When we did that, before going to air, it was fine and the ball was clearly missing.
"Just before we were going to replay, the end-on camera lost focus for an instant and when that happens it loses its calibration and we have to recalibrate. It happens a few times during the day but this was the first time it had ever happened between the time we tracked the ball and the time we had to replay it.
"It was a human error on our part. Fortunately, the error was within the 'umpires call' margin so the result stood -- as it should have because the ball in our track was missing the stumps. It is perhaps a good example of why there is an umpires call margin -- it is for occasions when the technology might make a mistake. This time it wasn't technology -- it was a human error which we take responsibility for. To put that in context -- on any given Test we track over 2,000 balls without an issue."
"There is a virtual 3D pitch that is usually perfectly aligned with the real pitch. Then the calibration went out, that meant the two worlds were no longer aligned properly, so you could see that the virtual stumps were no longer matching the real stumps. So, to summarise, there are three virtual stumps in our tracking model that you never see because they are aligned perfectly with the real ones. On this occasion, because we lost the calibration, you could see them separately,” Taylor concluded.
The recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy will be forever etched in the annals of cricketing folklore. A depleted Indian side made a historic comeback after losing the opening Test and eventually won the series after completing a famous win at Australia’s fortress Gabba. Despite some high intense cricket throughout the series, there were few decisions on the field which questioned the use of technology yet again.
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