DRS In LBW Decisions Favors The Batsman, Feels Pat Cummins Who Asks For Some Changes In The System

Australia fast bowler, Pat Cummins expresses his disagreements with a couple of aspects of the Decision Review System (DRS) in regards to the “Umpire’s Call” and the retaining of the review.

As for the umpire’s call, Pat Cummins reckons it favours the batsman more than the bowler. For the ball to be ‘hitting the stumps’, or for a decision to be overturned, the ball has to hit more than 50 per cent of the stump, but it considers from the top of the stumps and not from the top of the bails.

Hence, there have been several cases where a major portion of the ball is hitting the bails, but not more than 50 per cent of the top of the stumps, hence it is not deemed as ‘hitting the stumps’ – or as we hear it as the third ‘red’ for a batsman to be given out.

Pat Cummins speaks on the same matter, as for tall pacers, or on the pitches where there is extra bounce, it is difficult for bowlers to get wickets lbw.

“They measure the 50 percent of the ball not from the top of the bail, but from the line you see from the top of the stump. So you almost need 70 percent of the ball. It brings down the area you’ve got to be hitting the stumps to quite small. It almost has to be a half-volley for someone who’s quite tall, or you have to be bowling so straight from stump to stump,” Pat Cummins told Fox Cricket.

“Nathan Lyon bowling here in Australia obviously gets quite a lot of bounce — it’s so hard for him to get an lbw. It has to be hitting the stumps for a batter to be out lbw – but it can also be hitting the stumps and they still won’t be out,” he added.

Pat Cummins demands team retain review in case of uncertain catch appeals

Pat Cummins, Australia’s vice-captain, also asks that the teams retain the review when there is a case of a close, or rather an ambiguous decision in case of a catch where it is not 100 per cent clear that the batsman edged it – as the Snickometerand or the hotspot, and other technologies are not 100 per cent accurate – or if the catch is not taken with certainty as different camera angles can delude the third umpire.

“I understand it’s there for the howler, they keep saying. But I don’t understand why then nicks behind are so black and white. I know he’s either nicked it or he hasn’t, but there are times where you’re not 100 percent whether snicko lines up or you can’t say for certain whether he’s copped glove,” the number 1 Test bowler further added.

As for Cummins, with Australia’s Test tour of South Africa postponed, he will now be seen in action in the IPL 2021 playing for Kolkata Knight Riders. The 14th edition of the tournament commences on April 9th with the final on 30th May.

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