David Warner calls for drastic change to umpiring after lbw decision at Cricket World Cup in India

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David Warner has called for cricket umpires to operate under a greater level of accountability by having the accuracy of their history of decisions displayed as statistics on scoreboards during matches.

The drastic call comes after Warner was left incredulous and furious with a Joel Wilson lbw decision that sent him on his way during Australia’s win over Sri Lanka at the Cricket World Cup in India.

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The veteran Aussie opener was struck on the pad by left-arm seamer Dilsan Madushanka at Lucknow on Monday and, after being triggered by Wilson, immediately sent the decision upstairs to be reviewed.

With TV umpire Chris Brown allowing the decision to stand after the hawk-eye technology determined that the ball would have gone on to clip Warner’s leg stump, the dismissed batter was ropeable.

He let out a scream of frustration and reluctantly trudged off after seeing a replay of the ball on big screen.

David Warner had a visceral reaction to his dismissal against Sri Lanka. Credit: Getty/Fox Sports

“I just sprayed out loud in frustration pretty much,” Warner said of his reaction to the dismissal.

“Normally when something hits me on the leg on the outside, I know it’s pretty much going down leg.

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“I asked Joel when I was out there just what happened like why did he give it out? He said the ball was swinging back.

“From my perspective on the replay, it wasn’t. When you see on the replay how it unfolded, you get a little bit annoyed.”

Warner smashed his bat into the ground as he left the crease and was not sighted by teammates for some time afterwards.

Speaking to reporters the next day, Warner floated the idea that would see umpires scrutinised similarly to the way players are.

“Players’ stats go up on the board as you walk out to bat,” he said.

“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. It’s a great thing for the spectators to see as well.”

David Warner was fuming after his dismissal. Credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

The 36-year-old said over time, he has come to understand which umpires have which different tendencies.

“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.”

To clarify, Warner said he wasn’t aiming his comments at Wilson or any other individual umpire.

But he wanted a greater level of transparency.

“There has to be some accountability,” he said.

“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.

“You see it with the bunker in the NRL. You get absolute stinkers and some umpires don’t umpire the next game.”

“I think over a period of time. You know, obviously players get dropped for poor performances. It‘s never explained to us about what goes on with the panel (of umpires) as well. So (stats are) just an indicator.

“But it‘s just little things that show the spectator it’s not easy. So you know, you can explain where it’s not easy, why it’s not easy. And then when good decisions are made, they can explain it.

“So I just think it’s something that could be explored.”