Third umpires at this month’s Women’s T20 World Cup will be responsible for calling front foot no-balls via television replays, the International Cricket Council announced today.
The on-field officials at the World Cup will be instructed to no longer call no-balls when a bowler oversteps the front line, meaning they can focus their attention on the batter at the striker’s end.
Instead, the third officials will monitor the bowler’s front foot via television and, if a bowler oversteps, instruct the on-field umpire to signal a no-ball.
It comes after three successful trials of the method, the first of which came in 2016.
There have been several high-profile instances around the world in recent years where on-field officials have not called no-balls on the field despite replays showing a bowler has overstepped by a significant margin.
In the first Test of this Australian summer, Pakistan debutant Naseem Shah thought he had taken his maiden Test wicket before a review from the third umpire ruled that he had overstepped.
Subsequent replays showed that Naseem had overstepped on multiple occasions leading up to the wicket, none of which were called by the on-field umpire.
Not only did the missed no-balls mean Australia were not awarded a one-run penalty for each misstep, it meant the teenage quick did not adjust his run up and delivery stride in the knowledge that he was close to overstepping.
A similar instance occurred in the opening Test of the previous Australian summer, when India’s Ishant Sharma overstepped several times but was only called for a no-ball once, by the third umpire after he’d taken a wicket.
The accuracy of no-ball calls are of even greater importance in white-ball cricket than in Tests because the batting team are also given a free hit whenever a bowler oversteps.
The on-field officials at the T20 World Cup will still be responsible for calling other types of no-balls, such as when a bowler bowls a full toss that is over waist height.
While the third umpires will adjudicate no-balls at the T20 World Cup, it’s yet to be seen if the method will be rolled out in all international cricket.
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