ICC approach MIT to bring uniformity to DRS

International Cricket Council (ICC) has approached Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the best in the world, in an attempt to ‘’achieve” uniformity in the Decision Review System (DRS).

DRS has had its ups and downs for quite a while now, while some nations like Australia support the system, on the other hand, India is one of the nations opposing it until the system is completely developed and provides accurate information.

ICC CEO, Dave Richardson said that the findings by the institute will be submitted by May.

“In particular, they are looking at edge detection and ball tracking. Their findings will be discussed at our meetings in June and the aim is to achieve a uniform system with the agreement of all the Test-playing countries,” Richardson said.

The Decision Review System (DRS) has faced a lot of criticism since its very inception. BCCI has always been against the system due to the system’s inability to be 100% “foolproof.”

DRS until now has been optional for the teams. It is only used in those series where both the teams are ready to accept the system which aims to rectify the on-field umpire’s decision. DRS can be used both in ODI and Test matches.

Richardson has recently said that DRS’ technological issues are in the top priority list for 2016. He mentioned that the ICC has started meeting the Chief Executives of various Test playing nations and he will meet the officials of SA and England in their second Test match at Newlands.

Dave also stated about one of the other things on ICC’s top priority list which is the evolution of the game in the United States. After we saw an initiative by Sachin and Warne, ICC believes that there is much more cricket in the USA than in Zimbabwe.

He said, “There are more people playing cricket in the USA than Zimbabwe and about as many as New Zealand. There are about 80 leagues but it is very fragmented. The USA Cricket Association is currently suspended from the ICC and we have put in an advisory group in an effort to get cricket on a sound footing in America.”

Richardson said that it is important for ICC to unite the game in other nations in order to make cricket an Olympic game. ICC has had a meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to discuss the future of the game in Olympics.

Dave commented, “The IOC would want a proper format of 11-man cricket, such as Twenty20, and they stress that cricket must be united in wanting to be in the Olympics.”

But the cricketing fans need to wait until the game enters the Olympics, and the wait could be a longer one as Richardson added, this could not be done before 2024.