The Cricket Thread

New Officiating Replay System being trialled as ICC chases more accurate umpiring


  • SHAHID HASHMI WITH STAFF WRITERS
  • AFP
  • JANUARY 02, 2014 9:33PM

THE International Cricket Council's quest to improve the accuracy of umpiring with technology continues with the new Officiating Replay System (ORS) currently being trialled.

ORS, in which a non-match umpire is provided with direct replays during a match, is being tested during the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi as well as the remaining two Tests in that series.

ICC introduced the Decision Review System (DRS) in 2008 on a trial basis.

The system allows both teams to challenge decisions made by on-field umpires and have them referred to the TV official.

The new system, aimed at further improving the prevalent DRS, was first trialled earlier this year in the Old Trafford Test in the Ashes between Australia and England, and then in the fifth one-day international between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi last week.

The ORS system will give the third umpire the chance to look at replays from whatever angle they wish in High Definition.

It will be possible to look at a boundary check in under five seconds and look at the front-foot no-ball check in around two seconds, according to Simon Taufel, ICC manager for umpires' training and performance.

"It is a series of monitors that will provide direct footage to those monitors in High Definition (HD)," Taufel, a five-time umpire of the year, said of the system.

"I am able to say to the operator that I want to so and so replay this angle or I want to combine these two images together and he can quickly construct those images for me in what is an amazing shortness of time."

The ORS has yet to be approved as a tool to judge decisions in matches, but Taufel is hoping it will help in efficiency and accuracy in referred decisions.

"It's a separate technology trial which is independent of what is happening with third umpire in this Test, and we are looking at different options to better serve the game of cricket and have less interruptions and less breaks in play, and improve decision-making as much as we can."

Taufel said the ORS will give television umpires more options.

"It certainly gives him (TV umpire) a lot of options and I think that is one of the pluses we are seeing but we're keeping a very open mind about things; nothing is locked in stone.

"Technology changes all the time, cricket changes a lot of the time.

"Umpiring is all about giving the players the best service, the best umpiring and best decisions possible, and this trial fits into that theory."

Taufel said it will depend on the ICC technology review group to convince the boards to adopt the ORS.

"It (ORS) makes our job a lot easier, but we're also aware of the cost implications and things like that that have to be worked through."

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja, now a widely travelled commentator, said the new system can be useful on two counts

"ORS can be useful on eliminating the broadcaster's bias, if there was any, and it will save time on referred decisions," Raja told AFP.

"On those two counts it is a move in the right direction and its effectivity will only be judged when it is used on a consistent basis," Raja, who played 57 Tests and 198 one-dayers for Pakistan, said.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ccurate-umpiring/story-fni2fnmo-1226793965910
 
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