Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has spoken out against the team’s decision to send encrypted information using signals during a T20 international match against South Africa.
Important points:
- An English team analyst hung signs with letters and numbers from the balcony
- Former England captain Michael Vaughan says it is possible that such signals could be seen and used by people outside the team for corruption
- However, current skipper Eoin Morgan has stated that the team will “definitely continue” with the practice to see if it improves their decision-making in the field
But English skipper Eoin Morgan defended the move, saying he was glad it was in the spirit of the game.
Practice got the spotlight earlier this week in England’s final T20 international against South Africa.
Team analyst Nathan Leamon was shown by television cameras hanging signs with letters and numbers on the balcony so they could be seen from the field while Morgan’s team was in the field.
England won the international T20 series 3-0 against South Africa.
In the third game in Cape Town, England pursued a goal of 192 with 14 balls thanks to an unbeaten 99 from Dawid Malan after South Africa lost their 20 overs 3: 191.
Vaughan said on BBC radio that he did not feel that the English team – which reached number one in the T20 world rankings with the win in Cape Town – “had to show the opposition anything”.
“Eoin Morgan is the greatest white ball captain we have [England] Jos Buttler is by far the greatest white-ball cricketer we’ve ever had behind the stumps, “said Vaughan.
“I just don’t understand why you want to give the opposition any information from the balcony.
Vaughan said if there was a need to send information to the captain to remind him of who the best bowling matchups for batsmen were, it could be done through a message from the 12th man.
He said he “liked things that were done privately” rather than exposing them to others through signals.
The strategy has reportedly been clarified in advance by the referee, but Vaughan said he feels the practice may be an issue with cricket’s anti-corruption approach.
“We have faced anti-corruption and match-fixing problems in cricket for many, many years,” he said.
“I have no idea how the ICC can delete an analyst who is giving the team information off the sidelines.
“I know it was mentioned that you could hand over a piece of paper [to the players] and that’s fine because it’s private.
“A twelfth man can walk with a bit of information and that’s private, but by deliberately setting signals on a balcony [that’s different].
“I think the ICC has to look at that and now say, ‘Wait a minute, why should we allow some kind of signaling from the balcony that could possibly – I am only saying potentially – be picked up by someone for this reason who is in some way could be used by corruption? ‘”
England will “definitely go ahead with signals,” says Morgan
Morgan turned down proposals where there was something wrong with the tactics.
“There’s nothing unusual about it. It’s about maximizing the information we take in and measuring it against the things, the trainers’ recommendations … the data about what’s going on.
“We’ll definitely go ahead with this and give it enough sample size to see if it affects or improves our decision-making in the field, or improves our performance, or it might tell us more about how we understand information.” We record that during the games. “
AP / ABC
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