Current International Cricket Council (ICC) umpire of the year Marais Erasmus has said the introduction of the Decision Review System (DRS) has had a positive impact on the game.
The ICC introduced the DRS in 2009 but the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have been against it until the recent Test series against England in November.
“I am one of the first guys to speak out about it (DRS) and the positive effect it will have on the game.
"I think most international umpires feel the same way because it helps for different reasons like fixing errors‚” said Erasmus‚ who got 90% of decisions correct last season‚ during an interview with SuperSport on Tuesday.
“It was something new that we had to deal with and we did not change our style as umpires too much in terms of things such as body language and how we took decisions.
"You don’t start umpiring differently because there is DRS‚ we continue to try and get decisions right.
"You don’t want to give a not out decision because the fielding team has a review or something like that but give a decision that is right in the moment‚” he added.
Cricket umpires are constantly under tremendous pressure and Erasmus admitted that there would always be human error despite working hard in preparations such as video reviews to get decisions right.
He also admitted that he felt more pressure while working as a television review umpire than on the field because there is no room for error on referrals.
“I feel pressure when doing the television job because you are not supposed to make an error.
"On field mistakes are‚ to a certain extent‚ understandable and you are not supposed to make a wrong decision while reviewing on television‚” said the 52-year old‚ a veteran of 39 Tests‚ 67 ODIs and 26 T20s.
As a player‚ Erasmus claimed 131 first class wickets in 53 matches before he moved to umpiring which led to a Test debut in the match between Bangladesh and India in Chittagong six years ago.
He also highlighted that there were teams that are difficult to work with but pointed out Kane Williamson of New Zealand and India’s Virat Kohli as the two captains he enjoys working with the most.
“There are teams that are difficult to work with but generally I have a good relationship with all the teams.
"Williamson is a respectful guy on the field and Kohli is passionate about the game.
"We always come across challenging moments during matches and I remember one day while in India‚ Kohli came to me and said you have to give out because they have one review.
"Moments later Alastair Cook came to me and said the same thing.
"I was laughing to myself and saying that opposing captains agree on something.” - TMG Digital
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