Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh has batted for a referral system to allow teams to challenge umpiring decisions.
MELBOURNE: Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh has batted for a referral system to allow teams to challenge umpiring decisions.
Waugh, himself a big advocate of sticking with the human errors in cricket and restricting the use of technology for umpiring decisions, said issues related to umpiring blunders will have to be seen in a new light post the Sydney Test between India and Australia.
"This has always been a grey area and while I have been a great believer in human error being part of cricket because it grounds the game by sticking to its original principles, it also creates talking points and ensures players learn to take the good with the bad in the same manner as life unfolds," Waugh wrote in his column in 'The Daily Telegraph'.
"However, the time now seems right for a player challenge system, which the MCC cricket committee has endorsed and hopes to work in conjunction with the ICC to put in to action shortly, particularly now as the TV viewer is exposed to advanced technology that leave umpires exposed and scrutinized as never before," he said.
The challenge system will be tried out at this year's Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan, with three referrals allowed per team.
Waugh, who gave sledging the more respectable name of 'mental disintegration' and used it effectively to rattle the opposition, said Test cricket will lose some colour if as there would be fewer words exchanged in the middle.
"At the end of the day India were appeased with the removal of Steve Bucknor, satisfied that Harbhajan will more than likely play the final two Tests while Australia may yet lose Brad Hogg in a tit-for-tat reaction."
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