The International Cricket Council will assess the newly introduced umpiring referrals in Test matches when the cricket committee meets in May, ICC general manager David Richardson said Monday. The committee meets under the chairmanship of former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, with Australia's Mark Taylor and umpire Simon Taufel as its members. “It's not an easy process,” Richardson said. “Cricket is a very complicated game to officiate in. It's not like tennis where you've got a line and it's one question, did it go in or out.” Last year, the ICC introduced the new system of referrals with the series between Sri Lanka and India when a batsman or bowler could appeal against an on-field umpire's decision to the TV umpire – also from the ICC's elite panel of umpires. “What we found in the trials was that correct decision percentage went up from about 93 to 98 percent,” Richardson said. However, Richardson agreed there were some mistakes made by the television umpires during the ongoing series between England-West Indies and South Africa-Australia. “In a way, I'm grateful that it has been raised like faint edges,” he said. “(But) if we get close to 98 percent, it's an excellent result. “If we are going for 100 percent, we are fooling ourselves. Maybe mistakes were made in the West Indies, but we have to live with it.” Richardson said by using more technology, the ICC did not want to “de-skill” the onfield umpires. He said that if the umpire gets a correct decision with the use of technology it would nullify controversies during Test matches. “Often, umpiring controversies create bad behavior among players,” Richardson said. “What we found there was no dissent and players were very happy.” The ICC extended its panel of elite umpires from 10 to 12 last year and Richardson said they all come under “incredible scrutiny” throughout the year. “At the moment, umpires are expected to officiate in eight Test matches and 10-14 one-dayers every year. To my mind, it's a very reasonable ask from the umpires,” Richardson said. “The bottom line is they are doing a tremendous job. They are under incredible scrutiny and they do a good job.”
