ICC general manager Dave Richardson has admitted even he has been taken aback by the impact of the Decision Review System (DRS) on Test cricket. The ongoing series between Pakistan and England in Dubai has seen 35 lbw decisions, nine of them on Friday alone, to break previous records, and much of it is down to the DRS system helping bowlers out. Richardson admitted he never expected to see such a change to the game following the introduction of DRS.
“It’s doing what we planned for it to do and it’s working both from an operative perspective, and everybody else’s, including the umpires’ perspective,” he told Sky Sports 1.
“I would say that in subcontinental conditions, it’s surprised me that it’s in a way changing the game more than I thought it might, certainly for spinners. The spinners believe they can get more wickets, they are appealing for more, and the umpires are giving them.”
But Richardson said he believes this is a positive development as it removed the notion that batsmen should receive the benefit of the doubt – a convention not written in the laws of the game.
“I think it’s not a bad thing,” he said. “We were keen to make sure there was a better balance between bat and ball.
“I think there was a feeling it had gone too much the other way and batsmen were getting too much of an easy ride in Test cricket.
Wickets were too flat and the balance had shifted too far in favour of the batsmen, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing that there’s something for the bowlers.”
Although Richardson had not foreseen the impact on the subcontinent, he finds it easy to explain now.
“When you talk about the pitches here, the ball doesn’t bounce as much,” he said. “In England, Australia, and everywhere else, it’s amazing how many balls, even from the spinners, are creeping over the top of the bails, whereas here they are below the bails.
“I think it has had more of an influence in these conditions than anywhere in the world.”(PA Sport)