XtraTime Web Desk: Cricket over the years has always embraced the use of technology. The game has seen several innovations in terms of technology viz., the use of stump microphone, stump cam, hot spot, ball tracking etc. Former South African coach Bob Woolmer was a pioneer in bringing his innovative ideas to the game, mostly well accepted. But an incident at Hove involving Woolmer and former Proteas captain Hansie Cronje during a match in 1999 World Cup at Hove ruffled a few feathers as they were caught communicating with each other via earphones. The controversial incident took place during South Africa’s opening clash in the tournament against India on May 15, 1999.
Rival captains Mohammad Azharuddin and Hansie Cronje went in the middle for toss, with the later being asked to field after losing it. As the South African team went out to field, two cricketers – captain Hansie Cronje and pace spearhead Allan Donald walked in with earpieces tucked in without the knowledge of the match officials. Both Indian openers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were going about with their business in the middle until the left hander realized something suspicious. Just before the first drinks break Ganguly noticed that the South African captain was talking to himself. He (Ganguly) wasted no time and immediately brought the matter to the notice of the on field umpires David Shepherd and Steve Bucknor.
It was soon found that Cronje had been communicating with Woolmer in the dressing room with the help of an earpiece. Both Shepherd and Bucknor referred the matter to match referee Talat Ali who in turn contacted the International Cricket Council (ICC) as such an incident did not occur before during an international match. More so there was nothing mentioned in the laws of cricket against the use of earpiece on the field during a match.Ali was informed that although it seemed within the laws of the game, it should still be classified as an unfair tactic. A bemused Cronje and Donald were immediately ordered to remove the earpieces. The spectators had no idea what was going on in the middle as the game had to be stopped. But viewers watching the game live on TV were privy to the developments. Hansie Cronje ran into the first of his many major troubles as a year later he was engulfed in the match fixing scandal that rocked the cricket world.
Post match both the winning captain and coach (South Africa won the match by 4 wickets) stood by their decision to wear the earpiece as it was not illegal but at the same time were apologetic for not taking the permissions of the match officials.
“All I was trying to do was give help and advice. I’m sorry if I’ve upset anyone. I’ve tried to be innovative; the idea was to take the game forward. Where we erred was I should have asked the ICC for permission,” said Woolmer after the match.
ICC in a statement said, “The World Cup is not the event to experiment with new devices without first seeking permission from the ICC.”
One thing which everyone agreed upon was the spirit of the game came into question and eventually the ICC decided to ban the use of such devices in international fixture.