ICC agrees to reset reviews after 80 overs

Decides to reassess DRS technology in executive committee meeting.

ISLAMABAD: The International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) met in Dubai to discuss a range of issues relating to the playing and business of cricket, some of which will be considered by the ICC Board when it will hold its fourth and last meeting of the year in London from October 17-19.

In a major decision, the ICC agreed that the number of reviews available to a team in a Test match will be topped-up to two after 80 overs in an innings.

Its trial will start from October 1 this year in all Test matches in which the DRS is used, with the results being monitored and considered by the Working Group, according to a media release issued by the ICC yesterday.

The CEC received a report on the outcomes from a recent three-day workshop for international umpires and match referees. Following on from this report, the CEC members confirmed their collective support for international umpires and the spirit of the game, which under the Laws of Cricket require that the umpire’s decision be accepted without question.

The CEC reviewed the performance of the Decision Review System (DRS) during the Ashes series and received an update on a technology trial that was conducted during the Old Trafford Test. A paper prepared by Cricket Australia (CA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) following their series in England was also discussed. The CEC agreed that a Working Group be constituted to consider how the ICC should best use technology in umpire decision-making in the future.

Noting that most of the contentious decisions relate to faint edges, the performance of the Real-Time Snickometer during the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 and the Ashes, and the potential to use this technology to assist the umpires in making these decisions was discussed. An independent assessment of this technology will be conducted before a decision to include it in the list of approved DRS technologies is made.

The CEC also approved the ICC Cricket Committee’s recommendation that in a One-Day International reduced to 25 overs or less prior to the start of the first innings, only one new ball will be used per innings. This regulation will come into effect from October 1.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2013.

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