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Proteas and Eng guinea pigs?
07/05/2008 22:05 - (SA)
Altus Momberg, Die Burger
Cape Town - A system that will give cricket players the right to query umpires' decisions could be given a trial run during the upcoming Test series between England and South Africa.
The International Cricket Council on Wednesday announced details of the proposed system.
Cricket SA and the England Cricket Board now have to give their approval for the system to be tried out during the series that starts in London on July 10.
The system is similar to the one that gives tennis players the right to query a certain number of calls made by line judges.
In cricket, this will apply to almost all decisions.
For line calls in the event of run-outs and stumpings, the umpires will still have to decide whether to call on the television official to make a ruling.
However, after any other decision players will have the right to request that the matter be referred to the TV official.
According to the proposal, each team will have three chances per innings to call for a referral. If a request is successful, the team does not lose one of its chances to query a decision.
Only the batsman or the captain of the fielding side may question a decision. The batsman at the non-strikers end may not call for a referral.
Previously, the responsibility shifted to the TV umpire when an umpire on the field requested him to make a line call.
Don't want play delayed
Now the umpire in the middle and the TV umpire may discuss the matter but the one on the field will make the final decision.
For leg-before-wicket decisions, the TV official may also make use of the Hawkeye technology to determine the trajectory of the ball, but only up to where the ball hits the batsman's pad.
He may therefore not make a call according to the "prediction function" of the technology.
Brian Basson, Cricket SA's manager of cricket affairs, said on Wednesday the ICC had been, for a long time, hesitant to introduce a system that would give players the right to query decisions.
"It was thought it would not be in the spirit of the game," Basson said.
There will also be a time limit for a query to be lodged.
"One does not want a situation in which a coach in the dressing room can relay a message to the players on the field, or players watching a replay on the big screen to see whether it may have been the wrong decision.
"We don't want play to be delayed," he added.
Basson believes the system will motivate umpires to improve their standards.
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Rugby
