Ex-Oz umpires call for DRS scrapping as 'system making umpires lazy'

Former Australian cricket umpires Ross Emerson and Dick French have joined the numerous voices calling for the removal of the controversial Decision Review System, saying that the system is making umpires 'lazy' and 'ruining their techniques'.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, DRS has been in the spotlight for the entire Ashes series, following repeated errors by the umpires, and the issue has further warmed up after Hot Spot's failure to miss several faint edges, with silicone tape allegedly being used to deceive it.

The report further said that calls for the removal of DRS are getting louder, with former England skippers Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan among those who have condemned it.

Also expressing their concerns with the use of technology in cricket, French and Emerson felt that the DRS were eroding the standard of umpiring and undermining their confidence and authority, adding that instead of using the system, the ICC should invest money in training umpires.

French, who officiated 19 Tests between 1977 and 1987, said he was never in favour of it, while Emerson said the system should be scrapped unless the ICC invested in its own, accurate technology.

Stating that umpires used to operate with 95 per cent accuracy before the system was introduced, French also said that there was only a small margin for improvement from its use, adding that overturned decisions affected the umpires' confidence and a reliance on technology ruined their technique, thereby destroying the 'fabric' of the game.

Both French and Emerson doubted Hawk-Eye's accuracy, which is backed up by the way it is used with more than half the ball needing to hit the stumps.

Emerson also said that he is confused why the Snickometer, which uses a graph of sound waves in conjunction with video footage to help determine whether a batsman has hit the ball, is not a part of the DRS given that technology needed to be '100 per cent' accurate.

According to Emerson, the ICC should be improving the standard of the on-field umpires, adding that the third umpire has the hardest job of the three officials because all the tough decisions were being referred as compared to the 1990s.