A review of reviews

“Back in my day …”, is a catchphrase of mine and older generations and possibly some younger ones as well. The world wasn’t necessarily better “back in my day”. The odds are significantly higher that things are actually better these days. But, back in my day, the umpire’s decision was final. These days, in televised cricket at least, it is the umpires’ decision that is final. In case you missed it, I have moved the apostrophe. Just because the umpire on the field has given the batter out, and indeed even with a stumps-flying clean bowled, it doesn’t mean you are out. It is only once the uber-umpire in the air-conditioned box has ruled either on their on-field colleague’s decision or whether the bowler has overstepped that you can be sure whether it is ‘out’ or ‘in’. Modern scorers in televised matches know not to make the entry until the decision is finally final.

In my database I currently have the outcomes of 6 011 DRS decisions in Test cricket (men’s) going back to 2008 when it was first introduced experimentally. Amongst other things, TV and DRS has challenged conventional wisdom such as “of course, the batter knows if they hit it” and “the fielder know if they have caught it”. Terminology remains variable. CricInfo reports the DRS decision from the perspective of the reviewer: “Struck down” mean the review was struck down and the on-field decision remains and “Upheld” means the review was upheld and the on-field decision is overturned, while CricketArchive reports from the umpire’s perspective with “decision upheld” or “decision overturned”, which seems more intuitive. There are two types of decision that are available for players to review: LBW and caught. Let’s do a bit of analysis of this data.