Sport

Jury still out on decision review system

CRICKET: THE JURY is still out on the controversial decision review system (DRS) a month after it made its World Cup debut

Tue Mar 22 2011 - 00:00

CRICKET:THE JURY is still out on the controversial decision review system (DRS) a month after it made its World Cup debut. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said the technology has improved correct umpiring verdicts by more than seven per cent in the World Cup.

But not everybody is convinced about its efficacy and the board of control for cricket in India (BCCI), the world’s richest cricket body, remains an opponent.

Infuriated by Ian Bell’s apparent let-off for lbw in the tied India-England match, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan wrote an angry letter to ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, saying the incident exposed the inadequacy of the system. India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni termed it “adulteration of technology with human thinking”.

The ICC was forced to make a statement explaining the implications of the 2.5 metre rule which was used to rule Bell not out.

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Ireland captain William Porterfield was fuming at Sri Lankan umpire Asoka de Silva’s decision to give Gary Wilson out lbw despite replays showing he had offered a shot to a delivery that appeared to hit him outside the line of off-stump. The ICC was prompt in reprimanding the Irish captain for publicly venting his ire.

The technology used to improve correct umpiring verdicts has been far from satisfactory without the use of Hot Spot technology. New Zealand questioned the DRS when Nathan McCullum was denied a caught-and-bowled decision against Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene. Jayawardene was lucky to survive after the third umpire gave him the benefit of doubt though the catch looked clean in replays. Tensions flared as New Zealand captain Ross Taylor and the bowler had a heated debate with the on-field umpires.

The DRS has also had an effect on umpires. Former Australian Test umpire Darrell Hair is sceptical about the possible overuse of technology.

“I cannot help wondering how much of a confidence dent will be left on some of our ICC umpires when they begin to continually have decisions overturned,” he wrote in the Journal of the New South Wales Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association.