CHENNAI : Not only the ongoing series between India and the West Indies, an upcoming limited-over series between the Caribbeans and Ireland will also see the third umpire taking a call on front foot no-balls instead of on-field officials. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to conduct this experiment for both these series. The upcoming one, which will be hosted by the West Indies, starts on January 7. It will have three ODIs and as many T20Is.
“The India-West Indies series followed by Ireland tour of the Caribbean islands for three ODIs and equal number of T20Is have been identified to experiment the use of technology while calling front foot no-balls,” sources tracking developments told this newspaper on Monday. “Once the trial is over, a report will be submitted to the cricket committee and then a decision will be made on how and when the technology will be used in the future,” added the sources.
Normally, the report of such experiments conducted throughout the year is forwarded to the ICC’s Cricket Committee, which upholds or rejects it. Wit regards to the no-ball trial, the same procedure will be followed. The matter is expected to be taken up by the cricket committee sometime around June next year.
The first two ODIs of the West Indies-Ireland series will be held in Barbados on January 7 and 9, respectively. The final ODI and the first T20I will be hosted by the National Cricket Stadium, St George’s, Grenada on January 12 and 15. The last two T20Is will be held at Warner Park, Basseterre, in St Kitts and Nevis on January 19 and 20.
The ICC had earlier used this method to monitor overstepping in international cricket during a 2016 ODI series between England and Pakistan. However, sources claimed that the trials this time will be judged on their own merits and will be independent of the previous trial.
They also confirmed that the report of the 2016 trial will not be made public. It should be noted that even the Indian Premier League (IPL) is also considering an extra TV umpire for monitoring front foot no-balls in its next edition.Earlier, at the start of the ongoing limited-overs series in India, the ICC in a statement had remarked, “Throughout the trial, the third umpire will be responsible for monitoring every ball bowled and identifying whether there has been any front foot infringement.”