David Warner wants an explainer on the Decision Review System after growing increasingly frustrated by a series of line-ball calls at the 50-over World Cup.
Warner, on 11 against Sri Lanka on Monday night, was visibly upset when ball tracking confirmed umpire Joel Wilson’s out decision with ball-tracking technology showing the ball hitting leg stump to return an ‘umpire’s call’ verdict.
The broadcast showed a furious Warner smash his bat against his pad and yell in the direction of Wilson as he departed.
Umpire Wilson gave another lbw verdict five balls later when Steve Smith became Dilshan Madushanka’s second wicket of the over, a far more straightforward decision the batter did not review.
At issue for the veteran opener are the delays taken to build the ball-tracking data and the marginal nature of the lbw review system that means the umpire’s initial decision is pivotal.
>>Lacklustre Sri Lanka no match for superlative Australia
Wilson himself seemed surprised when ball tracking showed three reds to overturn a not out decision he had given against Smith in Australia’s previous match against South Africa.
It has not all been one-way traffic; the Australians were the beneficiary of a marginal DRS call when Adam Zampa had Sadeera Samarawickrama lbw with umpire’s call on hitting the stumps.
Elsewhere, Afghanistan also benefited from a dual umpire’s call on impact and hitting the stumps to remove an enraged Jonny Bairstow in their upset 69-run win over England.
Warner said while he understood umpires, like players, make mistakes, he wanted greater transparency on how DRS decisions were adjudicated.
“I’ve never had Hawk-Eye come in and explain to us how the technology actually works, it’s just for the TV,” the 36-year-old said following Australia’s five-wicket win over Sri Lanka.
“If they could come in and explain to us how it works, then sometimes we might (choose) not to refer or to refer.”
Warner said he felt like ball-tracking verdicts were “taking a lot longer than what it would in Australia”.
The Decision Review System was introduced in 2008, ahead of Warner’s international debut.
>>Mahela Jayawardene reveals the master plan for Sri Lanka Cricket
The ICC uses Sony-owned Hawk-Eye for ball-tracking at its global events, while for international matches in Australia, the DRS is provided by New Zealand-based Virtual Eye, which also works with Fox Cricket. The Seven Network uses Hawk-Eye technology for analysis on its broadcasts.
“At the moment, we seem to be waiting for (ball-tracking),” said Warner. “And as a player you get more frustrated because you think: ‘did they line it up, what’s the impact points, how many impact points are there before it goes on’.
“In England, the ball bounces and it actually moves once it’s bounced, not just off the seam but in the air it can move, so there’s just little things that as a player you get frustrated because there’s no explanation … but there has to be some accountability.”
The ICC has not announced any sanction for Warner’s outburst, who was shown on the broadcast turning back to shout towards the wicket as he walked off, but insisted his furious reaction was down to his frustration with the technology, suggesting ball-tracking did not match what he saw on the ground’s replay screen.
“I asked Joel when I was out there just what happened, why did he give it out,” Warner said.
“He said the ball was swinging back so to his credit, if he thinks that then that’s why he’s given a decision.
“But then when you see the replay of how it unfolded you get a little bit annoyed, (but) that’s out of our control.
“I just sprayed out loud in frustration pretty much just (to) myself.
“(The ball) kept low and normally when something hits me on the leg on the outside, I know it’s pretty much going down leg.
“So he (Wilson) said it was swinging back, (but) from my perspective on the replay, it wasn’t.”
Adam Zampa revealed he usually “disappears from the changerooms” when either Warner or Smith get out. He was balanced in his assessment of the technology post-match after collecting 4-47 in a match-changing spell.
“We had that lbw (against Wellalage) off my bowling that went our way as well so I’m not going to try and judge DRS on what it does, I just let technology do its thing,” said Zampa.
Australia departed Lucknow on Tuesday after two games at Ekana Stadium, arriving in Bengaluru where they next face Pakistan on Friday.
