England seamer Chris Woakes has called for a change to the DRS rules after a couple of close calls went against England on day one of the Edgbaston Test.
Day one against India saw England denied a wicket via lbw on three separate occasions, after they reviewed and the ball-tracking system returned umpire's call for each of them.
Two of these came in the space of three overs off Woakes's bowling, with the latter coming after India No.3 Karun Nair shouldered arms to a delivery that decked in, only to be saved by the technology. The bowler was not amused, and TV cameras captured him making his frustration known, under his breath.
A nearly-identical delivery from Woakes later in the day saw Nitish Kumar Reddy's off stump knocked back after he too, left the ball.
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Woakes: No-shot lbw calls should be out whether the ball is hitting or clipping
“I need to be careful: I've had some [decisions] go my way over the years,” Woakes said after the day's play.
“In general, DRS has been good for the game. A lot more right decisions are given [than before]. The only thing I would like to come in is that if a batsman decides to leave the ball and it's still hitting the stumps, I think that should be out - regardless if it's clipping or not.”
Usually, batters are safe from lbw decisions if they are struck outside the line of off stump. However, if they do not offer a shot, impact outside the off stump is considered to be in line with the stumps – meaning the only way they can be saved is if the ball is missing the stumps, or the technology upholds an umpire's call of not out.
There is currently no technological basis for umpire's call on the ball hitting the stumps to be done away with in these cases; it is equivalent to any other DRS scenario. Woakes's argument is likely an extension of the allowance made for bowlers to strike batters outside the line of off stump when no shot is offered.
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