England captain Ben Stokes wants to “get rid” of the umpire’s call element in the decision review system after Zak Crawley’s controversial dismissal in the second innings of the third Test against India.
Crawley departed for just 11 runs in England’s second innings after he was trapped LBW by Indian star Jasprit Bumrah, with the opener given the soft signal of out by the umpire.
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The English star immediately elected to review, but despite the ball seemingly missing the stumps, it was deemed umpire’s call and therefore Crawley had to go given the umpire’s soft signal.
Crawley’s disbelief was clear to see as he walked off the field.
England failed to mount any offence from that moment onwards as the visitors were rolled for 122 in the second innings, dropping the third Test to India by a whopping 434 runs.
Although Stokes did not pin the blame for his side’s thrashing on Crawley’s controversial exit, he called for the umpire’s call concept to be abolished.
“We just wanted some clarity around Zak’s DRS when the images came back,” Stokes told talkSPORT.
“The ball is quite clearly missing the stump on the replay. So when it gets given umpire’s call and the ball’s not actually hitting the stumps, we were a bit bemused.
“We just wanted some clarity from Hawk-Eye. It came back saying the numbers were saying that it was hitting the stumps but it was the projection that was wrong. I don’t know what that means. Something’s gone wrong.
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“I think when [the] people in charge of it say something has gone wrong that is enough in itself.
“We’ve been on the wrong end of three umpire’s calls this game and that is part of DRS. You’re either on the right side or the wrong side. Unfortunately we’ve been on the wrong side.
“I’m not saying and never will say that’s the reason why we’ve lost this game, because 500 is a lot of runs.
“You just want something that is consistent, so when the people that use the system are saying something that has gone wrong, whatever it is, who’s to say it’s not gone wrong at another time that could prove pivotal?
“Umpire’s call, personally I think we should just get rid of it. If it’s hitting the stumps, it’s hitting the stumps, then it’s a level playing field.
“It’s not me blaming that on what’s happened here, like I didn’t last week. It’s just … what’s going on?”
Stokes and his England squad will look to bounce back and level the series against India in the fourth Test, which begins on February 23 in Ranchi.
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