The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday also announced some other changes in playing conditions effective from June 1.
The ‘soft signal’ while referring catches to the third umpire had become a contentious issue over the years with players across the globe criticizing the practice. Earlier, the on-field umpires would refer a catch that needed to be checked to the third umpire, but would also give a signal suggesting their own decision.
The third umpire needed to have ‘conclusive evidence’ to overturn the on-field call. Form now, such catches will be solely decided by the third umpire.
The playing conditions were reworked by the ICC cricket committee led by former India captain Sourav Ganguly. The ‘soft signal’ was also abolished from the IPL two years ago when Ganguly was the president of the Indian cricket board.
“Soft signals have been discussed at previous cricket committee meetings over the last couple of years. The committee deliberated this at length and concluded that soft signals were unnecessary and at times confusing since referrals of catches may seem inconclusive in replays,” Ganguly said in a statement released by the ICC.
The ICC had stuck with the ‘soft signal’ for nearly a decade to retain the human element in umpire’s decision-making which has been fast taken over by technology.
Inconclusive catches have been a very sensitive issue over the years, which had led to instances where players’ integrity has also been questioned for claiming a catch.
In most cases, the camera angles couldn’t give conclusive images of dodgy catches and rarely on-field calls were overturned.
England Test captain Ben Stokes had voiced his opinion on the relevance of the soft signal after controversy during a Test match between Australia and Sou th Africa early this year.
“ICC should get rid of the soft signal and let the 3rd umpire who has all the technology to make the decision when the onfield umpires send it upstairs. All the controversy is always around the soft signal given. This isn’t a comment on the decision FYI,” Stokes had written on Twitter.
Flood lights allowed for WTC final
The ICC has also allowed the use of flood lights during the WTC final. Like the last WTC final between India and New Zealand in Southampton in 2021, the ICC has also retained the sixth day which is a reserved day if the match is affected by bad weather.
Confusion over Free Hit
There was confusion about the Free Hit rule with the ICC saying a “minor addition” had been made to it and that runs scored off a free hit would count as runs towards the batter, not byes. However, the ICC soon clarified that was not the case.
The rule remains the same: runs scored after a batter is bowled off a free hit will still be credited as extras.
Helmets must
With an increase in on-field concussion incidents, the cricket committee also made helmets mandatory for batters while facing fast bowlers, wicketkeepers keeping up to stumps and fielders in close-in positions in front of the wicket.
“…The committee decided that it was best to make the use of helmets mandatory in certain positions to ensure the safety of players,” Ganguly said.
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