ED... ISN'T IT TIME TO CALL THE MEN IN WHITE COATS?

ED... ISN’T IT TIME TO CALL THE MEN IN WHITE COATS?

- Peter Hayter

As the nation awaits the announcement of Ed Smith’s first squad as new National Selector, there will be interest also in the identity of the man (or woman) he will choose in due course to work alongside him as the other full-time member of his panel.

Along with the access Smith will enjoy to the latest statistical analysis, or ‘analytics’ as the science is now known in the right circles, there will be a network of scouts at his disposal, too.

And, while I’m sure the idea will have occurred to the deep thinker who gained a double-first in history at Cambridge University and was known by some in dressing-rooms at Kent and Middlesex as ‘Two Brains’, may I humbly suggest he might also keep an open line to the minds of the 25 men in white coats who make up the ECB list of first-class umpires.

For, whatever the stats say, they are the men who occupy the best seats in the house for every single red and white ball of every single match of every single season, and they know what they are looking at, too.

Smith could, of course, ask the laptops what pitch and overhead conditions were like on the day so-and-so made 47 in three and half hours, similarly when so-and-so-so took seven for 33.

But he could also ask the umpires standing in the matches in question, with the added bonus that a human would be able to add colour to the figures, nuance to the obvious and impression to the facts.

Smith could use them, indeed, as his eyes and ears on the pitch.

It used to be said that if you handed the first-class umpires a piece of paper and asked them to name their 12-man squad for the next England match, you would find unanimity on at least eight of the names, probably nine.