THE Decision Review System (DRS) is used in international cricket games to decide whether the umpire’s decision was a good call or not. If the batsman is struck on the pad, or for that matter, anywhere on his body and after an appeal is made and the decision given, the batsman can review the decision if it goes against him, or the opposite for the fielding team if they’re not in agreement.
The decision of the DRS is final after the TV umpire communicates his reply to the on-field umpire. It’s usually clear-cut, however sometimes, there’s a grey area, whereupon, the original decision of the on-field umpire is retained. This is referred to as an “umpire’s call.”
This has caused tremendous frustration and annoyance to some captains and players, the latest of whom is Ben Stokes, captain of England in the third Test match in the present series against India.
He objected strenuously to the umpire’s call, without knowing what it entailed. He said: “ We just wanted some clarity around Zak’s (Crawley) DRS when the images came back. The ball is quite clearly missing the stump on the replay. So when it gets given the umpire’s call and the ball’s not actually hitting the stumps, we were a bit bemused. So we just wanted some clarity from the Hawk-Eye guys.”
Over and above, I couldn’t help but wonder if ‘sour grapes’ was the main reason for his squawking. I honestly believe that if England won the Test match, not losing by 434 runs, one would not have heard a murmur from the English captain.
The English skipper says: “You want them to go your way, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t.
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“I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match.”
Nonetheless, that is exactly what he was doing, no two ways about it. If England had won the match one would not have heard a peep from Stokes.
Hawk-Eye, the name of the system of cameras that is used to determine the directional path the ball is taking, allows the TV judges to make their decision. Yet, because of narrow marginal errors, the International Cricket Council accepted the ‘half-a-ball’ concept meaning in that instance, the final decision will be left to the on-field umpire. Hence, the umpire’s call. And, this is where the bone of contention lies; and encourages the English captain and most other skippers who find themselves in a disadvantageous situation, to utter vapid objections to the umpire’s call. Although, only when it goes against them.
There are so many cricket fans in ignorance of the science behind this concept that it seems impractical and unjustifiable, nevertheless, it makes much sense if it’s understood. The ICC didn’t allow this idea to drift away out of existence but studied all the ramifications involved before deciding on its worthiness.
However, with the DRS, most everyone is satisfied, as the human element and capacity for mistakes is reduced. The players on the field who are reviewing hav
