ICC amends "umpire's call" rule in the Decision Review System

The bowlers have a good news today as the controversial “umpire’s call” ruling in the Decision Review System (DRS) for leg before wicket dismissals has been amended following the International Cricket Council’s annual conference.

The current rules for overturning an “umpire’s call” verdict on an LBW decision requires more than half of the ball in the tracking software to hit a zone between the middle of the off and leg stumps and below the bottom of the bails. The change will see that zone increased to the outside of the off and leg stumps, but still below the bottom of the bails.

The change will come into effect on October 1 or, according to an ICC release “from the start of any series using DRS that commences just prior to this date”.

That first series of the new DRS rules could also potentially see a trial for an increased use of the third umpire in ruling on no balls. The ICC will arrange a trial sometime in the next few months “to better understand whether the third umpire could use instant replays to call no balls more accurately”.

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“The trial is likely to be staged during one of the upcoming ODI series, and the third umpire will judge no balls within a few seconds of the ball being delivered and communicate this to the on-field umpire,” an ICC release said. The Australian cricket team will be the first team to benefit from the rule when they tour South Africa in September this year.