DRS to be enforced in Tests

Test cricket will no longer be the same. Rather, decision making will be much more accurate and less contentious. The human error in the decision making process will be negligible.

From Tuesday, the umpires Decision Review System (DRS) will come into force in the longer version of the game. The first Test between Pakistan and New Zealand, starting in Dunedin, will have the system in place. The system is virtually an extension of the referral system tried out by the International Cricket Council in the last one year. From Tuesday, it will become a law. Teams will be permitted to challenge the decisions of the on-field umpires.

“Personally, having the DRS trial was the best thing since slice bread! From an umpire’s point of view I embraced it, lived it and loved it,” Billy Bowden, an elite panel umpire of the ICC, said in his feedback to the governing body of the game. “The effect was all positive for me. I felt in control, relaxed and happy umpiring in the Tests every day,” he wrote in a letter which is in possession of DNA.

The system was endorsed by the ICC Cricket Committee and the ICC Board after, as an ICC spokesman said, “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from players, captains, umpires and match referees. It was learnt that nine out of the 10 Test playing nations had agreed to implement the DRS. England was the only country to have opposed the decision. The DRS was to come into force from October 1.

However, since that decision in June this year, a few more boards — including the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Cricket South Africa — have developed cold feet. As one can see, the DRS is not in place in the current India-Sri Lanka Test series. Although it will be seen in the Australia-West Indies Test series, the England-South Africa series is unlikely to have it. One of the reasons why the BCCI hasn’t implemented the DRS is that broadcasting costs could be higher. “We have an agreement with our broadcaster.

The system will necessitate extra technology and it could be costly,” a BCCI official told DNA. Besides, according to him, some Indian players were not too excited by the system.

When contacted, Nimbus, which holds the broadcasting rights of BCCI, says the ICC will have to bear the extra costs. “We’re not aware of the system in the first place. We’re not contracted with the ICC. If the ICC wants the system in place, it should bear the cost of the technology. Each equipment is quite costly and transporting that to various places is even more costly. I’m not obliged to show it as it is not adding any value to my viewer,” says Harish Thawani, the chairman of Nimbus that owns Neo Sports.

So will the DRS become another cricketing hot potato like the Wada issue was between the BCCI and the ICC? It is premature to predict as it is learnt that the issue has been referred to the Chief Executives’ Committee of the ICC which will meet in Dubai on November 30 and December 1.

So till the ICC sorts out the matter, Test cricket might be foolproof in some matches and not so in some others. The ICC, however, says it will be implemented fully. “It was an executive board decision and will be implemented by all the members,” an ICC official said.