ICC Cricket Conference: Modified DRS made mandatory

BCCI will be showing a go-ahead signal for DRS for the first time since 2008

It will come as a surprise to everybody but it is true that the Board of Control Cricket India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) have finally reached an agreement and have resolved their difference of opinion over the Decision Referral System (DRS), a place that both sides could claim to have attained. The ICC chief executive’s committee also made the use of DRS in Tests and ODIs mandatory.

However this is with a modification. The use of vulnerable ball-tracking technology is being stripped out of the ICC’s original compulsory list of DRS technologies. Instead, the committee places more trust over infrared and audio-tracking technology. By audio-tracking technology it is understood that HQ replays with the aid of stump microphones would replace Snickometer.

“This is only the end of day two of what is a Test match,” Haroon Lorgat said at the end of the meeting held at Hong Kong.

The DRS will come into use from the bilateral series between India and England. This also means that for the first time, the BCCI has shown a ‘go-ahead’ signal ever since the DRS made it a forgettable experience for India in the year 2008, in the test series against Sri Lanka.

The series will use Hot Spots to identify if the ball has nicked the bat and the Leg Before Wicket (LBW) other decisions will not have the conventional ball-tracking technology. However with mutual consent of the participating teams, the ball-tracking technology may be used.

Another modification made was to reduce the number of unsuccessful reviews from two to one in the ODIs.