ICC makes umpire review calls more tricky to call for

ICC rings in UDRS changes to limit excess umpirereview calls but waits on more pink ball tests for holding day-night Tests

LONDON // Players' tactical use of video reviews for umpire decisions has pushed the International Cricket Council to restrict the appeals teams can make in limited-overs cricket to one per innings.

The ICC's cricket committee recommended that the board halve the number of appeals in one-day and Twenty20 matches in the hope that players learn to challenge umpiring decisions only when they are convinced of an injustice.

There were frequent contentious appeals at the World Cup, which ended on April 2. Despite overwhelming evidence that umpires' on-field decisions were correct, teams often used them simply because they were available, to slow opponents' momentum or in hope of securing an unlikely reprieve for a key player.

"They used them for tactical purposes rather than because they genuinely believed a mistake had been made," ICC general manager David Richardson said.

The committee, which is chaired by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd and includes players, coaches and match officials, has also recommended to its members that the Umpire Decision Review System should be used in all tests, reiterating that objections from India should be laid aside.

Sachin Tendulkar benefited from the system twice at the World Cup, raising hope at the ICC that the Board of Control for Cricket in India may relent and acquiesce to its use.

Other nations, including Australia and England, have used the system for tests and Richardson said umpires were happy for it to be more widely implemented.

"They are embarrassed when they have to change one of their decisions but they are far happier to do that than to have ruined a match with a bad decision," Richardson said.

Richardson said the use of the system, to which both sides have to agree ahead of a match, had shown that umpires got an average 75 percent of decisions right, which had improved perception of the standard of officiating.

The committee also recommended further changes in the wake of the World Cup, which was won by India and mostly judged an improvement on the 2007 tournament in the Caribbean.

The board said it wants to abolish the mandatory new ball after 34 overs of an ODI and instead have teams bowling with a different ball at each end.

Its answer to slow over rates was to recommend that a captain should be suspended for one match if their team is guilty of two offenses within a single 12-month period.

The committee also wants to see nighttime tests under floodlights as soon as possible - subject to further tests with the new pink ball.

The ball performed well in a four-day match in Dubai involving the Marylebone Cricket Club but Richardson said the committee still needed proof that it would retain its color and condition in less benign conditions.

Teams bowling second in day-night matches at the World Cup were often disadvantaged by dew settling on the ground and making the ball slippery. The ICC wants to see how the pink ball performs in similar circumstances.

"We were also worried about the dew factor and whether, if a team has to bowl at night, they have to bowl with a bar of soap," Lloyd said.

The ICC will ask its members to trial the ball in one of their multi-day domestic competitions.