TELEVISION’S SPIDERCAM WAS at the centre of controversy over a dropped catch during the Test match between Australia and India this morning.
Australia captain Steven Smith dropped a regulation chance when Lokesh Rahul skied a Shane Watson delivery.
Smith was seen mouthing “f**king wire” to team-mates after his line of sight was affected by the cables connecting the aerial TV camera.
Cricket Australia and the Nine Network later confirmed that Smith had been “distracted by one of the wires in his eyeline”.
“We (CA and Nine) have spoken about the matter involving spidercam and the dropped catch before lunch and it’s clear the ball did not hit the camera or its supporting wires,” the joint statement read.
“Captain Steve Smith was distracted by one of the wires in his eyeline. Both CA and Nine will continue to work together on the use of spidercam in the broadcast coverage and will take on board any player feedback as necessary.
“As it stands, if any player has a concern about the placement of spidercam they can ask the umpires for it to be moved.”
Australia coach Darren Lehmann said that while he is a fan of spidercam, he thinks it is down its future positioning during games needs to be thought out.
“It wasn’t ideal where it was positioned for that particular ball,” he said.
“I like watching it, but I think they have to get the position right when the bowler’s bowling, particularly on the off-side which we are speaking to Channel Nine about it, making sure we get that right moving forward.”
Spidercam is a camera system which gives viewers a bird’s eye view of the action and uses cables to carry a camera-platform along a track between two mounting-points. It is also able to change its altitude at any given moment.
The camera was used during last year’s World Cup in Brazil while it’s also used by broadcasters for certain rugby games.
