Australia’s cricketers are adamant the onus is on umpires to make the right decisions rather than on players to change how they use the one-day game’s controversial review system.
Skipper Michael Clarke used his side’s only review in Sunday’s washed out one-day clash with Sri Lanka at the SCG when he was given out lbw for 20.
They were left with no recourse when Dave Warner (60) and Moses Henriques (3) then copped bad decisions on the way to Australia’s 9-222.
“I don’t think a player should feel guilty that he’s used the DRS (decision review system) and then an umpire makes a bad decision,” one-day batsman and Twenty20 captain George Bailey told reporters in Hobart.
“I think it’s there for the howler and I think the onus is still on the umpires to make the right decision.”
Teams are allowed just one unsuccessful review in the 50-over series.
Bailey said there had been no edict that players be certain they are not out before they potentially used it up.
“I don’t think you want to be seen as a player who is reviewing everything just on the off chance the bowler might have overstepped.
“I think generally players have a reason if they’re going to use it.”
He defended Clarke’s decision, saying the ball that dismissed the captain had been close to hitting him outside the line and bouncing over the stumps.
Bailey has been an outspoken opponent of the system used in domestic one-day matches, where reviews have been in the hands of the umpires.
But he said the better quality of replays available for international matches meant taking the process out of the players’ hands was worth considering.
“Whether you can do it (review) for every single decision and make it unlimited I’m not sure,” he said.
“Whether you take it out of the player’s hands, that’s one option.”