Stephen Fry tests his umpiring skills against Hawk-Eye at Lord’s

British actor and comedian Stephen Fry took to a new role at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London by testing his umpiring skills against the Hawk-Eye technology in a series of LBW calls. With a bowling machine doing the needful at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) academy, Fry emerged as a potential umpire at the end of the session, getting all six calls approved by Hawk-Eye.

Modern-day umpiring is greatly assisted by technology in various forms such as Hawk-Eye, Decision Review System (DRS), etc. Despite the revolutionizing of the sport by technology, it has been proved to be prone to errors occasionally. In December last year, Pakistan batsman Shan Masood was adjudged leg-before wicket by Hawk-Eye off the bowling of New Zealand pacer Trent Boult in the second match of the three-Test series. Hawk-Eye officials later admitted the review to be an erroneous one, after a complaint was filed by some members of the Pakistan team.