Umpire review system to be examined

The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) suggested umpire review system will be experimented during Sri Lanka’s three Test series against India starting in July.

The review system will make its first appearance in the first Test which begins on July 23 at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place. The second Test will begin on July 31 at the Galle International Stadium and the third and final Test will start on August 8 at the R. Premadasa International Stadium.

The main ingredients in the review system will be that umpires should still be permitted to refer line decisions or boundaries to the third umpire as normal without a player requesting him to refer that decision.

In addition the players should be permitted to ask the on field umpire to review any aspect of any other decision in consultation with the third umpire.

The committee also recommended that Hawk-Eye technology could be used by the third umpire but only for the purposes of determining the actual path of the ball up until the point that it struck the batsman and not the predictor function of the technology.

Meanwhile the technology could be used by the third umpire while considering the review request. Among them are the slow motion replays from all available cameras, super slow motion replays from the cameras positioned at either end of the ground, ultra motion camera replays from the cameras positioned at either end of the ground, sound from the stump microphones with the replays at normal speed and slow motion and Hawk-Eye for ball tracking purposes only.

According to the system players will request reviews by making a ‘T’ sign if the third umpire disagrees with the on-field umpire and the on field umpire should revoke his previous decision before giving the new verdict.