Cricket: Bird blames replay for umpire errors

DICKIE BIRD, cricket's most famous official who retired in 1996 after a world record 66 Test matches, has blamed technology for cornering international umpires into poor decisions.

Bird believes the introduction of cameras and increased scrutiny of batsmen's dismissals has sapped the confidence of the men in the middle.

Rudi Koertzen, the South African umpire, has been lambasted over the last few days for his performance in the second Test between his country and England. Mark Butcher, Michael Vaughan and Chris Adams were given out by the South African official and the decisions were all questionable.

Koertzen subsequently apologised for his mistakes but Bird believes relying on video replays has altered the decision-making process of his former colleagues. "In this day and age, when there is so much money involved, everyone wants perfect decisions. Even with the electronic age you won't get perfect decisions," said Bird.

"There is no more pressure now than when I was standing. You bring your own pressure on yourself. The umpires have got six cameras to help them - I think that should be a tremendous help. What worries me is that the cameras are causing the umpires to lose confidence in making decisions."

Bird points to a decision made in the Test - when Adams appeared to catch Jacques Kallis at silly point, only for television pictures to prove inconclusive and England's appeal to be turned down - as evidence of the change. "If there had been no cameras there I think they would have given it out but the umpire had to go to the camera [third umpire] which wasn't good enough, so he had to give it not out."