We Need A New Breed Of DRS Umpires

Adam Collins argues that the current DRS system is flawed because of human error, so specialists must be trained to take over the crucial job in future

- Adam Collins

Try and forget what David Warner said after his dismissal on Friday. A man under as much pressure as the Australian opener – who must want this series to finish pronto – is not the most reliable narrator to begin with.

Instead, look at the confusing moments that led to him being assessed as caught behind on the basis of ultraedge. Let’s observe this as yet another instance of the superb modern tools at our disposal undermined by how they’re deployed.

When the Decision Review System was brought in for international cricket, the working thesis was that it would help in eliminating the ‘howler’ – to use the commentary cliché.

But nearing a decade on, that’s not how it is being used anymore. Yes, awful calls on the field are overturned and the game is better for it. Naturally, though, the opportunity to take another look is now seen more like it is with tennis: strategically deployed challenges in a game of inches.

As we witnessed with Tim Paine at Leeds, to use or not use DRS can dictate a match.

With so much on the line, then, how is it possible that so much of this process can depend on the comprehension of a match official who is simply in that chair due to rotation?

When third umpires were first called upon to adjudicate run out decisions in 1993, their job was fairly basic and binary – is the bat over the line in a run-out or not? Now, it is far more complex with various considerations to make all while their workings-out are being listened to by millions of viewers at home through the microphone.