DUBAI: Front-foot no ball technology will be used for the first time in a global cricket tournament later this month at the women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday.

The television umpire will monitor the landing position of the front foot after every ball and tell the on-field umpires if a bowler oversteps.

Umpires have often had to call back batsmen in recent years following TV replays which have revealed no balls.

The decision follows successful trials conducted across 12 games in both India and West Indies, which saw 4,717 balls bowled and 13 no-balls called. The ICC said all deliveries were judged accurately.

“No balls are difficult for umpires to call accurately, and even though the percentage of deliveries that are no balls is low, it is important to call them correctly,” said ICC general manager Geoff Allardice. “Since we first trialled this concept in the ODI series between England and Pakistan in 2016 the technology has improved significantly, enabling us to introduce it cost-effectively, and with minimum impact on the flow of the game.

“Cricket has an excellent track record of introducing technology to support the decision making of our match officials and I’m confident this technology will reduce the small number of front foot no-ball errors at the Women’s T20 World Cup.”

The television umpire will monitor the landing foot of the bowlers after every ball and communicate to the on-field umpires whether it was a legal delivery.

It is currently the responsibility of the on-field umpires to call no-balls when a bowler oversteps the mark.

The women’s T20 World Cup runs from Feb 21 to March 8.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2020