• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Wbbl Unveils Electric Stumps As New Exciting Technology In Cricket

WBBL Unveils 'Electric Stumps' As New  Exciting Technology In Cricket 

image-lp0sgbh3Electric Stumps were introduced in WBBL 2023-24 (Twitter)

After stump mics and flashlight bails, we have electric stumps being introduced in the game of cricket for the first time as the ongoing Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) welcomes the new technology for matches. 

These electric stumps, featuring LED lights that would further help verify the moments the ball dismantles the sticks and therefore allow the TV umpires to make the best judgement of the run-outs and even bowled, were introduced to the global WBBL audiences by tournament broadcaster Fox Sports. 

Branded as 'Fox Electric Stumps', these special set of three sticks at either end of the pitch were historically revealed at the North Sydney Oval in Sydney for Match 41 of the league stage between hosts Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers.

A clip of the introduction to the new technology has since gone viral on Twitter with cricket fans wondering if it could transcend to the men's Big Bash League (BBL) to be held later in the Australian summer and then international cricket in times to follow. 

Fox Introduces 'Electric Stumps' For WBBL 

Notably, this is third special innovation and technical upgradation made to the stumps in cricket history. It began with the usage of stump microphones, which were introduced in the 1970s at the height of the famous Kerry Packer World Series Cricket. 

The microphones in the stumps were game-changing to raise cricket's viewership experience and ultimately its popularity on primetime television. The technology has since gone up by notches and now plays an integral part in the Decision Review System (DRS) to assess the deflection on the ball with a 'snickometer'. 

The second technological advancement to the stumps were the LED bails that came much later in 2013 when the ICC approved the usage of flashlights on stumps to better determine the run-out instances. LED bails helped the TV umpires gain greater clarity of the point when the ball disturbed the bails whilst the batter strived to get inside the crease.