Hawkeye will be in effect during the World Cup
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
The International Cricket Council (ICC) have confirmed that Hawkeye and Realtime Snicko will be used during the World Cup.
However, it has also been announced that HotSpot will not be available during the tournament.
ICC’s cricket operations manager Geoff Allardice also revealed that the entire Decision Review System (DRS) might be changed when it is reviewed in the near future.
“They’ll be using ball tracking and the snicko for all matches. So it will be applied evenly across every match in the pool stage and the final stages,” Allardice said. “So the umpires all have tools and they’ve spent two days working through how to do the preparation for the tournaments and how to use the umpiring tools.
“The primary reason for no Hot Spot is that the number of cameras needed to cover all matches given the schedule was just far in excess of the number available. So it wasn’t practical to do it for all matches under the same conditions, so that was the reason we didn’t go down that path.
“The decision was taken a long time ago that the DRS was going to be used in ICC events in this cycle from 2007 through 2015. It was used in the 2011 World Cup, it was used at the Champions Trophy in 2013, and it’s used in this World Cup, so it’s business as usual.”
Allardice also hinted that it is likely a whole new review system will replace the current one in 2017.
“I think the arrangements are around future events, so the next event wouldn’t use DRS under the current regime,” he said. “So 2017 as far as ICC events goes would be the next one International event we’d look at. I think there is still negotiation to take place as to how DRS will be used in that tournament.
“There is work going on at the moment around reviewing DRS and the use of technology, and I think it’s been status quo to the World Cup using the same system we’ve used for a while. But I think after the World Cup we’ll revisit the last few years and see how it’s going and whether the protocols that are in place at the moment are the ones that serve our game the best.”
Allardice also made it clear that the umpires will be much more stricter when it comes to reporting poor on-field behaviour during the World Cup.
“The main message is the umpires over the last four months or so have been quite strong in the way they’ve been reporting players who step over the line with the way that they conduct themselves either towards their opponent or towards the umpire or the game,” Allardice said. “And for the tournament itself, the umpires probably aren’t going to do things a lot different in terms of reporting players, but I think it’s with the World Cup coming along, the penalties might be just a touch higher than they’d otherwise be.
“A level one offence you only have the option of fines, and the majority of incidents that occur in matches are at that level. So it might be stiffer fines. If players are conducting level two charges, suspension is an option. We don’t take the suspending of players lightly or there is not going to be an overreaction in that regard. But I think if a player does step across the line to such an extent that he warrants a suspension, I think the referees will consider that.
“Each incident is case by case. But I think the general view is the starting point wouldn’t be at the minimum point of the range, it might be more in the middle.”