‘I’d love to see their stats come up on the board’ – David Warner lashes out at umpiring decisions in ODI World Cup 2023

The Australia batter David Warner has voiced his frustration over a decision that did not go in his favour during a World Cup game. Warner expressed a desire to have umpire statistics displayed on the scoreboard screen, similar to the practice in NRL and NFL.

In Australia’s recent match against Sri Lanka, David Warner was given out LBW. The on-field umpire, Joel Wilson, made the decision against him. Warner chose to use the Decision Review System (DRS), seeking a reversal of the decision. However, the DRS results indicated an ‘umpire’s call’ for both pitching and the wickets hitting metrics, provoking an angry reaction from Warner.

“Players’ stats go up on the board as you walk out to bat. When they announce the umpires, I’d love to see their stats come up on the board as well. The NRL does it. I think the NFL does it,” Warner said as reported by Wion.

The Australian opening batter mentioned that it’s essential to be aware in advance of which umpires tend to make the 50-50 decisions. This has been the case in the World Cup so far. There have few decisions which have certainly raised some of the eyebrows of many.

“It’s a great thing for the spectators to see as well. You definitely know which umpires are going to give those 50-50 ones when it hits the pad, and that’s where from my perspective it gets frustrating,” he said.

“There’s no bias in anything. It’s just that you feel that as a player sometimes. There has to be some accountability. If you get a decision wrong, just accept it and apologise. Players aren’t going to bite your head off. Umpires aren’t going to bite your head off if you ask them the question. They’re generally pretty honest,” Warner added.

There have been some dubious DRS decisions

In addition to on-field umpiring, the Decision Review System (DRS) has faced scrutiny for delivering questionable decisions. In Australia’s second league match against South Africa, Steve Smith experienced the impact of DRS when the on-field decision was overturned.

Despite umpire Joel Wilson initially declaring not out as the ball struck Smith’s pads, the DRS revealed that it was hitting the leg stump. This decision surprised Smith, Wilson, and fans, prompting doubts about the system’s accuracy. In a subsequent match between India and Pakistan, a similar scenario unfolded as Muhammad Rizwan was struck on the pads, but this time, the DRS indicated that the ball was missing the stumps. This led to online discussions questioning the reliability of the DRS.