By IANS,
Johannesburg : The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Umpire’s Decision Review System will be used in South Africa for the first time when the hosts face Australia in the first of three Tests that begins at Wanderers here Thursday.
Proteas coach Mickey Arthur has welcomed the umpire referral system. “The idea of the referral system is to reverse decisions that are clearly wrong,” said Arthur, who also serves on the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket Committee. “Anything that is going to improve decision-making is to be welcomed,” he was quoted as saying by the Mail and Guardian.
The series between South Africa and Australia will be the fourth in the space of the last few months to trial the ICC’s Decision Review System through which both the batting and bowling sides can request an umpire’s decision to be referred for review by the third umpire.
The system has previously been used in the series between India and Sri Lanka and between New Zealand and the West Indies, and is currently also in use in the series between England and the West Indies in the Caribbean.
The on-field umpires for the first Test are Steve Bucknor of the West Indies, who is taking charge of his final series before retiring, and Billy Bowden of New Zealand. Asad Rauf of Pakistan is the third (TV) umpire.