In first-ever exam for BCCI’s match referees, only 50 of 129 pass

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel points out that it was Prof Ratnakar Shetty who came up with the proposal to develop the umpires and match referees programme so that BCCI could see more names in the International Cricket Council (ICC). Shetty requested BCCI to approach Taufel and he agreed.

Pre-condition apply

“Earlier what used to happen was that each association would send two names and we used to allot games to them without questioning their knowledge. This year we asked each association to send five names who want to be match referees for the coming season. But there was a pre-condition that all these referees will have to pass the exams in Bangalore. The idea was to have the right persons for the big job,” Patel told The Indian Express.

BCCI dispatched three books —MCC Laws of the Game, BCCI Playing Conditions and Code of Conduct — to all aspiring-referees a month in advance and everyone was told to come fully prepared as exams would be conducted in four different batches.

In written exams for 100 marks, referees were asked about level of charges imposed on players. They were given instances of well known games and were asked what charges would they have applied in that particular situation. There were questions on laws of the game and playing conditions.

Match referees were shown videos of Brendon McCullum opposing a decision given by an on-field umpire

The question asked was: As match referee, what charges would you have levelled?

Later the referees were assembled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore where they were explained and asked about playing conditions. There were topics on umpire evaluation and venue inspection.

A match referee who gave one of the written exams, said 100 questions were asked during the four hour-long examination. “There were questions like if an umpire doesn’t give a no-ball which is waist height, as a match referee, how do you rate him in his report?” an examinee said.

In another seminar, Taufel did a mock-demo of chucking and asked referees to write their views on it. And there were sessions on report writing where umpires had to submit reports of each game they covered.

Taufel made all referees make a small presentation where they were asked to talk about themselves and why they want to be a match referee. A few couldn’t utter a single word.

Avoidable remarks

There have been instances in the past, like when a match referee submitted a report calling Parveen Kumar mentally unfit and referees were told to strictly avoid such lines. Patel said what came as a surprise for the BCCI was that even well-known veteran match referees failed to pass these tests.

“There were many who backed out when they saw such detailed seminar and exams happening. There were many referees who don’t know how to write a report. There were instances earlier where referees relied on video analysts to submit their report. We want to stop such practice. If we want our members to be in ICC match referee panel then we need the right persons,” Patel added.

Interestingly, well-known associations like Mumbai Cricket Association saw all their aspirants fail.

BCCI is soon going to start an online programme for match referees where they can post their reports directly. A few match referees backed out hearing this because they don’t know how to use a computer.

Patel feels it’s the first step to bring things in order. “We might have fewer referees but at least we will have the best quality,” he explains.