As quoted by the Daily Mail, Ben Stokes remarked that the umpire’s call should only in cases where confirmation of the ball is hitting the stumps is required because it involves a ‘prediction’ from the on-field umpires. Stokes argued that umpires can ‘physically see’ the pitching and impact of the ball, making these elements unambiguous.
Currently, the umpire’s call is used for all three LBW parameters - the pitching of the ball, the point of impact of the ball when it hits the body of the batsman, and predicting whether the ball would have hit the stumps.
If the ball-tracker shows that not more than 50% of the ball is aligning with any one of these parameters, the on-field umpire’s decision is adjudged the right one.
ICC’s ruling on umpire’s call
Ben Stokes’s comments come close on the heels of a recent ruling by the ICC to continue with Umpire’s Call as part of DRS. Anil Kumble, who led the decision-making committee, had explained the call as follows:
However, the committee made several other changes to how LBW reviews will be judged. These include lifting the wicket’s hitting zone to the top of the bails and allowing the fielding team to consult the umpires on whether the batsman offered a shot or not before taking the review.
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