Pakistan have been given back the review they lost due to an umpiring oversight on the first day of the second Test at the P Sara Oval in Colombo. The review – which was used to refer an unsuccessful appeal against Kaushal Silva – was restored to Pakistan at the start of the second day, leaving them with the full quota of two reviews.
The rare decision to compensate a team for suffering an umpiring error was made because suboptimal use of the DRS had cost Pakistan the wicket of Silva in Sri Lanka’s first innings of the second Test.
Umpire S Ravi had given Silva not out – after which Pakistan reviewed the decision – off the bowling of left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar on the fourth ball of the 19th over of Sri Lanka’s innings. The players were ostensibly appealing for a bat-pad catch to slip, and that seemed to be what the on-field umpire had prompted the third umpire Paul Reiffel to review. But though Silva appeared not to edge the ball, replays showed him to be an lbw candidate.
Reiffel did not check for an lbw at the time, however, and Ravi was not instructed to change his decision. Replays and projections showed that Silva had been hit in line with the stumps, that the ball would have gone on to strike middle-and-leg stump, and that the point of impact on the pad was less than three metres from the stumps. This meant the not-out decision could have been overturned had Reiffel checked for an lbw dismissal.
Section 3.3(f) of the ICC’s Test match playing conditions state: The third umpire shall not withhold any factual information which may help in the decision making process, even if the information is not directly prompted by the on-field umpire’s questions. In particular, in reviewing a dismissal, if the third umpire believes that the batsman may instead be out by any other mode of dismissal, he shall advise the on-field umpire accordingly. The process of consultation described in this paragraph in respect of such other mode of dismissal shall then be conducted as if the batsman has been given not out.
As the clause does not suggest umpires must check for all possible modes of dismissal for a review, Reiffel’s mistake seemed an error of judgement, rather than a failure to follow protocol. He may have overlooked the possibility of an lbw dismissal during his consultation.
The Pakistan coach Waqar Younis went to Chris Broad, the match referee, to seek an explanation for the decision. ESPNcricinfo learned Broad and Reiffel apologised for the oversight, and it was reluctantly accepted by the team because nothing could be done after play carried on.
