In a first, the third umpire will monitor front foot no balls in an ICC event during the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia this year. The decision to use the system was made after it was tried successfully in India and West Indies.
“The third umpire will monitor the front foot landing position after each ball and communicate to the on-field umpire if the delivery was a no ball,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement.
“The on-field umpires have been instructed not to call any front foot no balls unless advised to do so by the third umpire, although they will be responsible for calling all other types of no ball on the field,” it added.
The technology was held across 12 games recently, during which 4717 ball were bowled, and 13 no balls were called by the third umpires. The on-field umpires failed to spot the no balls, after which the TV umpires came into the fray and announced the no balls after watching repeats.
Geoff Allardice, ICC General Manager Cricket said: “I am confident that this technology will reduce the small number of front foot no ball errors at the ICC women’s T20 WC.”
“No balls are difficult for umpires to call accurately, and even though percentage of deliveries that are no balls is low, it is important to call them correctly.”
Allardice said the technology has been cost-effective and hasn’t impacted the pace of the game either.
“Since we first trialled this concept in the ODI series between England and Pakistan in 2016 the technology has improved significantly, enabling us to introduce it cost-effectively, and with minimum impact on the flow of the game.”
The Women’s T20 World Cup will be held from February 21 to March 8, and will begin with Australia Women taking on India Women in the tourna