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Bharat Kumar

CHENNAI, Sept. 17

SHOAIB Malik and Dion Ebrahim may not be very happy men at the current ICC Champions' Trophy. They were among the first in the hallowed history of cricket to be given out leg-before-wicket with the aid of the third umpire.

The world might one day be filled with more such cricketers who rue playing in an era when technology shows up umpires.

But, there's no sure way of saying whether that day will come sooner or later.

When Navjot Singh Sidhu complimented Hawk-Eye the other day on TV, his co-commentator Harsha Bhogle ribbed him, saying, "From Two Hoots to Hawk-Eye to Well Done Hawk-Eye."

Nothing else would have hit the nail on the head as this comment. Earlier, Sidhu had been unimpressed with the concept.

Hawk-Eye, the technology used to estimate the path of a cricket ball had not a batsman's leg been in between the ball and the stumps, has evoked different reactions.

Dr Paul Hawkins, who is behind the Hawk-Eye endeavour, told Business Line, "When we explain to people how this works and what it is meant to be - an umpiring aid - , then they understand."

Dr Hawkins has a background in technology and an interest in cricket. The Hawk-Eye concept was inspired by defence technology that estimated the path of missiles.

Says Dr Hawkins, "This is essentially visual processing, using cameras, not lasers. There are six calibrated cameras stationed at strategic points around the ground. As a ball is bowled each camera recognises the ball in the image. A 3D trajectory of the ball is created from the image data using a process called Kalman Filtering. From this 3D trajectory, you can determine the speed, angle and deviation of the ball's flight."

But is Hawk-Eye 100 per cent accurate?

Says Dr Hawkins, "Our tests show that it is accurate to within 5 mm. It is accurate in estimating whether the ball would have hit the stumps or passed them. But it is an umpiring aid, because it cannot determine whether the batsman got an edge."

Interestingly, Dr Hawkins has only two others working with him at Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd.

The team markets the product while Roke Manor Research, a Siemens company, does the software design and development.

Roke Manor and Sunset+Vine have invested jointly in Hawk-Eye Innovations.

The technology comes at a rough cost of £100,000 per cricket season, if a broadcaster buys it. Channel 4 and ESPN-Star were recent sponsors of the technology.

Asked if Hawk-Eye Innovations had interests in India, Dr Hawkins said, "We are attempting to enter the market. We have been talking to the authorities and to broadcasters. Nothing has been finalised yet."

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