ICC to use Smart Replay System in Women's T20 World Cup 2024

International Cricket Council (ICC) will be using the Smart Replay System in the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup 2024. The mega event is all set to kick start on Thursday (3rd October) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tournament was earlier scheduled to take place in Bangladesh but due to the anti-government protests, the event was moved out of the country.

ICC Women's T20 World Cup will become the first ever ICC event in which the Smart Replay System will be used. The technology was recently used in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 and The Hundred 2024 and it's fair to say that it helped umpires take the decision more quickly and accurately.

International Cricket Council released the official statement about the Smart Replay System being used in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. The governing body revealed a minimum of 28 cameras will be used in every game along with different analytical and visual enhancements.

ICC provides official statement on Hawk-eye Smart Replay System for Women's T20 World Cup 2024

The ICC also mentioned that DRS will be available along with the Hawk-eye Smart Replay System, which will allow the umpires to make decisions accurately. Releasing the official statement, they said:

"The coverage will feature a minimum of 28 cameras at every game and will be complemented by a variety of analytical and visual enhancements. The Decision Review System (DRS) will also be available at all matches, with a Hawk-eye Smart Replay in place that enables the TV umpire to instantly review synchronized multi-angle footage for accurate decision-making,"

The Replay System will allow TV umpires to receive inputs directly from two Hawk-Eye operators who will be sitting in the same room as the umpire and provide him with images captured by Hawk-Eye's eight high-speed cameras across the ground. This eliminates the role of the TV broadcast director, who used to be a conduit between the third umpire and the Hawk-Eye operators until now.

Not only this, the Replay System will also allow TV umpires to refer to more visuals than they previously had access to, including split-screen images. During the stumping dismissals, the TV umpire can also ask Hawk-Eye operators for split-screen visuals.

But during that mode of dismissal, if there will be a clear between the ball and bat the TV umpire will not ask for the UltraEdge and will directly see the stumping. The UltraEdge will only come into effect if there isn't a clear gap between the bat and the ball.

The umpires will now also be able to access the tri-vision footage from side-on cameras as well as from front-on in a single frame during the stumpings. Earlier, only a side-on angle from each side, along with footage from a stump Cam, was seen.

Apart from the Smart Replay System, the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 will also have an all-female panel of umpires and match officials.