Neutral umpires to officiate test matches as travel restrictions are relaxed

As per the latest recommendations of its cricket committee, the ICC has decided to bring neutral officials back for test matches. According to the revised decision taken by the governing body on Sunday, test matches will have three neutral officials one on-field umpire, the match referee and the third umpire. However, the role of the other on-field umpire and the fourth umpire will continue to be played by non-neutral or home officials. 

There used to be five non-neutral officials during test matches before the covid-19 outbreak took place. Following the travel restrictions that arose during the pandemic, the ICC included the provision of having only the home officials for the bilateral series. But as the pandemic is almost done and dusted, many countries have significantly reduced the travel restrictions. As a result, cricket's world governing body has finally got a chance to go back to neutral officials to officiate in the test matches.

However, the performance of the home umpires was found to be satisfactory from July 2020 to February 2022. Moreover, the calls made by the home officials weren’t controversial enough and didn't affect the results of the games played in the aforementioned period. Therefore, the ICC has aimed at the coexistence of both neutral and non-neutral officials in tests to be played in the 2022-23 season, having a view to give the latter more opportunities to administrate at the highest level.   

In its statement, the ICC said, "The CEC was updated on the use of home umpires from July 2020 to February 2022 due to Covid-19. The committee acknowledged that the performance of home umpires was strong and had not affected games. The use of home umpires had also led to 12 members of the international panel of umpires making their Test match debut."

If we talk about limited-overs cricket, there used to be three neutral officials in ODIs, while the number of neutral umpires for the T20Is was just one before the pandemic regulations. But, the astounding success of the home umpires has tempted ICC to go with all five non-neutrals to officiate in the shorter formats in the near future.