World Cup director in favour of having stump mics on during a match

With the World Cup approaching soon, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering some of the new innovations with the official broadcasters of the tournament. One among those is keeping the stump mics on without commentary during the live telecast of the matches just like the broadcasters did during India's tour of Australia.  The tournament director Elworthy has expressed that he is in favour of having the stump mics on at all times of the matches saying that it will help the cricket fans around the world “get closer to their heroes."

"From a fan engagement point of view, being able to do this for fans and spectators who are coming to the game or are watching on TV, these things need to be discussed, and need to be addressed," Elworthy told ESPNCricinfo.

"People want to get close to their heroes. They want to understand what goes on in the heat of the battle. But you've also got to understand there are sensitivities around these things. So it is a fine balancing act. But I would genuinely like to see that accessibility granted. I'd like to see it when players do get closer to the fans, fans and spectators can witness what actually goes on the field."

The decision of keeping the stump mics on even when the ball is dead also has its own share of problems as well. Windies pacer Shannon Gabriel and Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed were handed over bans by the ICC in two separate incidents for making inappropriate comments on the field and their statements were recorded via the stump mics only. Many critics came out in open to question the decision by the global body on keeping the stump mics on at all the time during a game. 

"What will do, certainly from a disciplinary policing point of view, we will make sure that we will apply [stump mics] consistently. So, although the broadcaster might decide not to broadcast to the public because he might feel that sometimes the comments on the field can be pretty banal and irritating, I suppose to the viewers, as long as that audio is still available to the match officials to use if necessary," ICC chief executive Dave Richardson told ESPNcricinfo. "

"Anything that can help them police the game consistently will help. It becomes difficult when things get said on the field, it is not picked up by the on-field umpires, and they don't take any action. There could be swearing or abusive language going on which is not punished. The audio from the stump mic will allow us to be more consistent in how that particular type of behaviour is policed. As to the players maybe getting upset, that's silly. If you don't want to be heard by anybody saying something that you shouldn't be saying, well, then don't say it. You shouldn't hide behind the fact that it might be picked up or it might not be."

Stating about the reasons of ICC’s decision to keep the stump mics on, Richardson informed, “No. 1, it does bring fans closer to the game, it allows you as a viewer watching on television sets to feel part of the action. And let's face it, we need to find ways of providing broadcasts which are more interesting, more innovative, and brings fans closer the game.”

"The second part was to help us police abusive language, behaviour that is not wanted in any form of cricket. The excuse, 'well, we couldn't charge anybody because no one picked it up or no one heard it', stump mics will help us police the game in that regard."