Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether elite cricket umpires' decisions contribute to home advantage via leg-before-wicket decisions. Design: Leg-before-wicket decisions (n = 4971) from actual elite level cricket matches in Australia between 2009 and 2016 were analysed using a binomial logistic regression to predict the umpires' leg-before-wicket decisions. Methods: Regressions were performed to determine whether the batter's team (home or away) influenced the likelihood that the umpire would give them out leg-before-wicket. Results: We found no evidence of home advantage in umpires' leg-before-wicket decisions. In fact, we found evidence that umpires in some instances disadvantage the home team. Conclusions: We suggest that the increased professionalism of sports officials, and the scrutiny they are placed under, may lead umpires to reduce or even overcompensate for any existing biases in their decision making.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 520-523 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 3 Feb 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The research was supported by a QUT Postgraduate Research Scholarship to the lead author.The research was supported by a QUT Postgraduate Research Scholarship to the lead author. The authors wish to thank Cricket Australia for providing the data for this study.
Funding Information:
The research was supported by a QUT Postgraduate Research Scholarship to the lead author.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Sports Medicine Australia
Keywords
- Decision-making
- Home disadvantage
- Referee bias
- Sports officiating