Former West Indies pacer Ian Bishop has shared his views on the much-talked-about umpire’s call rule in the game. England captain Ben Stokes has triggered a debate on the rule with his recent remarks. Following the heavy defeat in the third Test against India, the allrounder urged the governing body of the game to do away with the umpire’s call rule.
Stokes stated that the final call should be made on the ball’s trajectory and not the umpire’s initial decision. He said that if the ball is set to hit the stumps then an lbw dismissal should count.
As per the current rules, the original decision made by the on-field umpire is given precedence. If a batsman is given out lbw and he reviews the decision, he will have to walk back if the delivery is set to hit the stumps.
However, if he is given not out and the bowling team reviews the decision, the original decision is upheld if the ball is shown to be only clipping the stumps.
“You just want a level playing field. The umpires have an incredibly hard job as it is, especially in India when the ball is spinning. My personal opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away ‘umpire’s call’ if I’m being perfectly honest. I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match,” Stokes said after the Rajkot Test.
Ian Bishop on the umpire’s call:
While many have backed Ben Stokes’ call and have urged the ICC to scrap the umpire’s call rule, Ian Bishop has come up with a different opinion. Reacting to a recent post on X where the user stated that the ball tracking is a prediction and thus could lead to a small error, Ian Bishop said that the ICC has been explaining the rules to the players and the commentators for as long as he wrote:
“Paul, I 💯percent agree with you. @MazherArshad has been reposting this done by @nassercricket for god knows how long now,, . The ICC have made an effort to get this view out to players and commentators. I’ve explained it for years.” Ian Bishop’s tweet read.
Paul, I 💯percent agree with you. @MazherArshad has been reposting this done by @nassercricket for god knows how long now,, pic.twitter.com/VJ9eOteO9e. The ICC have made an effort to get this view out to players and commentators. I’ve explained it for years. https://t.co/xPxeQRBOk4
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) February 19, 2024
In 2021, former England captain Nasser Hussain also explained the rule after former India captain Virat Kohli raised the same issue. He shared his views on the same recently too, telling Sky Sports:
“DRS is not there to back up the umpire but because of the margin for error in technology. Umpire’s call is needed as ball hasn’t hit the stumps, it is just a projection.
“The only thing that has changed is the tinkering of the law. Some of these lbws do look high but a few years ago umpire’s call was changed to include the top of the stumps as well,” added Hussain.
