New Delhi, May 26: As cricket looks to restart post-Covid-19, the ICC Cricket Committee has recommended an additional review for teams in Test matches. Anil Kumble, the chairman of ICC Cricket Committee, has revealed the logic behind the increasing a review (Decision Review System).
Speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Connected, former India captain, Kumble said: "I think the need of the hour was to start cricket. We also felt that because of travel restrictions, there could be quarantine measures. You don't have too many elite umpires in the panel. So, we felt that for cricket to kickstart, its best to use local umpires. Most countries don't have the experience, the local umpires don't have the experience of a Test Match or being part of a Test match."
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Kumble further stressed that they have decided to provide an additional review (DRS) so that the two teams can overcome the challenge of inexperienced umpiring.
"The reason that we started neutral umpiring 20 years ago was because there was a perception of bias. The recommendation for an extra review for both teams is not to root that out but we felt that there could be potential inexperience being in a Test match situation, which is why the advantage of the additional review would probably benefit both the teams. That's one of the reasons why we recommended that we should give the additional review to both the teams in these scenarios."
"ICC Back to Cricket Guidelines" is a comprehensive document developed by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee in consultation with Member Medical Representatives, and provides guidance for the safe resumption of community cricket, domestic professional cricket and international cricket.
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The guidelines do not provide answers to when the game can resume in different parts of the world, rather it provides a framework with practical suggestions on how members can resume cricket in a manner that protects against the risk of transmission of infection with the COVID-19 virus.
The ICC has advised its members to use these guidelines as the basis to create their own policies for return to cricket activity in compliance, in all cases, with local and national government regulations (which should always take precedence) and to ensure the cricket community applies the necessary safety measures when resuming cricket.