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David Warner has called for individual umpire statistics to be shown on the big screen during matches in a bid to improve the accountability of cricket’s on-field officials.
Australia have been the victim of multiple controversial calls during the one-day World Cup in India, where reviews have been notably slower than in home matches.
Warner himself was at the centre of one of the debatable decisions against Sri Lanka on Monday, when he was given out lbw by Joel Wilson to a ball angling down leg.
Warner reviewed the decision but ball-tracking showed the Dilshan Madushanka delivery clipping leg stump, with the decision remaining out on umpire’s call.
“Players stats go up on the board as you walk out to bat,” Warner said.
“When they announce the umpires and they come up on screen, I’d love to see their stats come up on the board as well.
“Over the period of time, obviously players get dropped for poor performances. It’s never explained to us about how or what goes on with the (umpire)’s panel.
“(The stats on accuracy ratings) would just be an indicator.
“We check up there sometimes and go ‘oh, gee, I’m only averaging that now’. But it’s just little things that show the spectators.”
The 36-year-old compared the situation to that of the NRL, where referees are routinely dropped after poor decisions.
Warner said Wilson had told him he believed the ball was swinging back from Madushanka, something the opener said was not at all evident on replays.
Australia’s veteran opener also bemoaned the fact it was extremely difficult to overturn an lbw call for a batsman on ball-tracking, given the ball only needs to be clipping the stumps to have the decision stand.
Added to that is a frustration he believes some umpires are far more willing to give batsmen out than others.
“As a player you definitely know which umpires are going to keep those 50-50 ones when you’re hit on the pad,” Warner said.
“And that’s where, from my perspective, it gets frustrating.
“Because you know literally if you get hit on the pad it could be a close one unless it’s definitely not out.
“There’s no bias in anything. It’s just you feel like that as a player sometimes.”
After beating Sri Lanka by five wickets on Monday in Lucknow, Australia moved to Bengaluru for Friday’s crunch clash with Pakistan. England and South Africa’s shock defeats to Afghanistan and Netherlands respectively have opened the tournament back up, allowing Australia to move back into contention after their two first-up losses to India and South Africa.
“I know at the back end we have Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the hard ones come in between that,” Warner said.
“And then you talk about net run-rate as well. There’s a few things that can be there at the end.
“But Pakistan is our next game and that’s what we’ll be throwing all our attention to.”
© AAP
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