An apparent DRS timing error may have cost Sri Lanka a wicket on the first morning at Kingsmead.
Vishwa Fernando had trapped Hashim Amla in front of the wicket but umpire Aleem Dar deemed as not out.
The debate around the use of Decision Review System (DRS) DRS seems like it is here to stay. This was after it reared its controversial head in the first session of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Kingsmead, Durban on Wednesday.
Left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando had trapped Hashim Amla in front of the wicket but umpire Aleem Dar deemed as not out. Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne decided to review immediately.
But, it seemed that the Islanders might have taken more than 15 seconds to take the call. So, the umpires didn’t go upstairs. However, commentators on air said that only 13.79 seconds had passed.
Another aspect was that the on-field umpire should have prompted the fielding team once the 10-second window elapsed. That too was missing.
Later on, HawkEye showed that Amla was out as the ball would have crashed into the stumps.
Under Rule 3.2 (b) in Appendix 2 of the ICC Rules and Regulations, players have just 15 seconds to deliberate whether they will review a decision with the third umpire.
The law in ICC’s rule book states:
“The total time elapsed between the ball becomes dead and the review request being made should be no more than 15 seconds. The on-field umpire should provide the player with a prompt after 10 seconds if the request has not been made at that time and the player should request the review immediately thereafter. If the umpires believe that a request has not been made within the 15-second time frame, they will decline to review the decision.”
Earlier, in the recently concluded India vs New Zeland T20I series, DRS was in the limelight for the wrong reasons as Kiwi batsman Daryl Mitchell had to walk back despite hotspot showed there was a big mark on the toe-end of the bat after the ball had passed it.
