Matchup Monday #1 - 🥶 The DRS system is broken

Is it pitching in line? Is the impact in line? Is it hitting the stumps?

Why do all of these things matter, and more importantly, when the ball is hitting the stumps, why is it then umpire’s call?

It all comes down to the lack of precision of the DRS ball-tracking software. Supposedly.

Let me explain what is happening.

In the DRS system, the ball has three categories to meet to be conclusively given ‘Out’.

Pitching: A grey-shaded line that runs through the middle of the pitch to the other set of stumps, the outline from the outer edge of the off stump to the outer edge of the leg stump. This is used to see the point where the ball bounces off the pitch. More than 50% of the ball has to in the grey shaded area to be ‘in-line’.

Impact: Marks the first point of contact between the batter’s pads and the ball. This has to be in line with the stumps, similar to ‘Pitching’.

Wickets: The eventual tracking of the ball to measure what percentage of the ball is making contact with the wickets.

For ‘Wickets’ and ‘Impact’, if the ball is between 1-50% of that criteria, it will be umpire’s call. However, this is not the case for ‘Pitching’ where the ball is either not pitching in line or it is, no in-between, for some bizarre reason.

In the image below, this is the DRS review that Alex Carey took against England when he was given out, this lack of uniformity in the rulebook saved him.

When the ICC were asked about this when it occurred in the Hobart Test, they declined to respond, knowing their blunder.

Moreover, big players such as Virat Kohli state that no matter how much of the ball hits the stumps, the bails will be dislodged, right? So this matter should not be up for discussion.

After all the facts, research and outside opinions, here is my take.

• Before delving into the complications of the Umpire’s Call, why does the ball have to be perfectly straight to be given out, it’s not like you can’t be bowled when the ball pitches on the leg side, so this should be the same for LBW, shouldn’t it? Preposterous. In addition, if there is slight contact between the ball and the bat, but the ball is going to hit the stumps anyway, why would that automatically be not out, ‘chopping on’ to your wickets still is out, so this should be as well.

• We have the technology to calculate the trajectory and distance of a six, a batter’s bat speed, a bowler’s ball speed, and advanced algorithms that deliver numerous statistics instantly, so how is the technology not advanced enough to simply see if the ball is hitting the wickets or not? The entire premise of ‘umpire’s call’ was to account for the inaccuracies of technology, if sufficient resources and effort were put in, this would be resolved.

• On the other hand, this would make the umpire’s role redundant, where technology could provide more accurate calls and less controversial moments, potentially putting umpires at risk of their job.

It will take a long time for any change to happen due to the slow nature of ICC and to be real, the umpires are always going to stay there, for the little things such as wides, no balls, ball replacements, on-field arguments, etc. Both sides of the argument have merit but have their flaws that could disrupt cricket as we know it, a risk too big for any board to take, thus they will continue to observe and enforce current rules that are in place.