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[fineleg]

Players could question umpire decisions under new rules

DUBAI, May 5 (Reuters) - Teams may be allowed to appeal against umpires' decisions to the third umpire during one-day games under a proposal to be discussed by a committee of the International Cricket Council this weekend.

Players would be allowed a "certain number of appeals -- to be determined -- per innings if they feel a decision made by the on-field umpire may be incorrect", the ICC said in news release on Thursday.

General manager David Richardson said the ICC wanted to explore the possibilities offered by technology.

"What we are looking to do is to increase the already high numbers of correct decisions made by our on-field umpires without diminishing their role and this approach has the potential to do just that," he said in the release.

"Umpires at international level already get between 94 and 96 per cent of decisions correct so we believe we are not talking about a large number of potential referrals.

"And if it increases the number of correct decisions even further then that has to benefit the game."

At present the on-field umpires alone can ask the third umpire to rule on disputed catches and run-outs.

If the Cricket Committee supports the proposal and it is accepted by the ICC Board, the rules would be tried out at this year's ICC Champions Trophy in India and, if successful, repeated at next year's World Cup.

An appeals system has been used in American Football for several years and earlier this year was tried out at eventd on the professional tennis circuit, the release said.

The committee, which includes six former international captains, will also discuss the merits of giving umpires earpieces to listen to the stump microphones, something that would help them hear edges more easily.

It will also look at proposals to improve the consistency of decision-making about bad light, review laws governing bats and discuss the playing conditions for the Champions Trophy and World Cup.

Recommendations from the Cricket Committee need to be accepted by the ICC chief executives' committee and ratified by a July meeting of the ICC board before being put into practice.

[Sahir]

I do like the appeals system-- I think it has worked tremendously in American Football, however, there have to be very well tought out and planned rules for it.  For example, there should be a very limited number of appeals and the appeal must be immediate (say within a minute of the decision being given and before ay further play).  Additionally, if we are going to do this, I think the ICC must have a specialist panel of third umpires that are given exlicit training and instructions on what constitutes clearly reversible error on the part of the on-field umpire and what does not.  We do not just want to transfer the on-field indecision into third umpire vagaries.  Furthermore, the third umpires will have to be from neutral countries if this system were to fall into place.  I also think only certain decisions should be appealable-- those ones where technology is most likely to be conclusive.  Personally, I do not feel slip catches, etc. should be referred to the third umpire, because two-dimensional camera angles make it very difficult to ascertain at times as to whether the ball was caught cleanly.  For such a decision, I would still trust the instincts of the on-field umpires.  The first thing that should definitely be appealable is whether the ball pitched outside legstump or not on an lbw appeal/decision (for this to happen, I think the batsman should have to specify the reason for his appeal if given out, i.e. pitched outside leg, and the third umpire should adjudicate on that decision only, not then look at haweye, etc.; if the bowler is appealing, it should be after the umpire has turned down the lbw for a specific reason such as pitched outside leg).  The other similar appeal that can be made is whether the batsman was struck outside off or not when attempting to play a shot.  Certainly, a batsman should be allowed to appeal if he has nicked the ball on an lbw decision, or the bowler can appeal if the umpire denied an appeal for that specific reason, with snickometer being used to judge (this can also come in handy for pad first or bat first decisions).  The snickometer can also be used to determine whether a batsman nicked the ball or not when caught.  However, the one thing I would not like to do is invlolve hawkeye (which I now know for certain is not 100% accurate since it displayed an Anil Kumble delivery missing offstump, except that Ian Bell left it alone and it clipped the top of offstump).  Therefore, I would still like to leave lbw decisions up to the umpires, with the only possible appeals being for where the ball has pitched or struck the batsman.  I think this system may take some time to settle down, but it would ensure decisions by the third umpire based on conclusive technology, while still not undermining the authority of the on-field umpires.  There will still be some wrong decisions-- the system will never be perfect-- but this way, hopefully the number of wrong decisions is reduced drastically.

[fineleg]

"There will still be some wrong decisions-- the system will never be perfect-- but this way, hopefully the number of wrong decisions is reduced drastically"

I really hope so - win or lose, nothing more frustrating than watching UMPIRES at EURASIA CUP!!!
OMG!!!
(Not to mention some of our ICC Elite!!!)