The International Cricket Council (ICC) has finally done away with the contentious ‘soft signal’ by on-field umpires, putting an end to years of confusion among cricketers and supervisors of the game.
That, along with mandatory wearing of helmets for high-risk positions and allowing runs scored off a free hit even when the ball hits the stumps were the recommendations from the Sourav Ganguly-led Men’s Cricket Committee ratified by the Chief Executives’ Committee on Monday. The changes to the playing conditions will come into effect on 1 June 2023 with the Lord’s Test between England and Ireland.
A long-standing issue between players and umpires, the soft signal was used by on-field umpires while referring catches taken close to the turf to TV umpires with their take on whether they thought it was taken cleanly or not.
According to ICC rules, a "soft signal is the visual communication by the bowler's end umpire to the third umpire (accompanied by additional information via two-way radio where necessary) of his/her initial on-field decision prior to initiating an Umpire Review."
In real-time, however, it’s almost impossible to ascertain the validity of such catches from the naked eye, rendering the soft signal just short of a hunch that the TV umpire had to abide by despite inconclusive TV footage replays.
{{/usCountry}}In real-time, however, it’s almost impossible to ascertain the validity of such catches from the naked eye, rendering the soft signal just short of a hunch that the TV umpire had to abide by despite inconclusive TV footage replays.
{{/usCountry}}In 2021, Suryakumar Yadav, on 57, had pulled England seamer Sam Curran towards deep square-leg where Dawid Malan appeared to have caught him. The on-field umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan went upstairs with a soft signal of "out".However, third umpire Virender Sharma couldn’t ascertain whether it was a clean catch despite reviewing the footage for nearly four minutes. Sticking to the rules, however, he went with Anathapadmanabhan's soft-signal and declared Yadav out.
Virat Kohli, India’s captain then, wasn’t too pleased with the decision and insisted umpires shouldn’t commit to a decision if not sure.
“If it's a half-and-half effort and the fielder's in doubt, I don't think the umpire from square leg would see that clearly and, you know, make a conclusive call,” he told the broadcasters after that match. “So the soft signal becomes that much more important and it's a tricky one. I don't know why there cannot be a sort of "I don't know" call for the umpire as well. Why does it have to be a conclusive one? Because then that (dictates) the whole decision completely.”
A few months later, New Zealand opener Devon Conway was given not out during the Edgbaston Test despite replays showing he had been caught cleanly by Zak Crawley at slip. “It's actually the ruling that's putting the umpires in a really difficult situation,” said England pacer Stuart Broad before the start of play the next day. “It's having to get a soft signal. You're going upstairs because you're not sure whether it's carried or not. So then to have to give an opinion whether you think it has, puts the umpire in a really tricky position. Then the third umpire's hands are tied a little bit with whatever that on-field call is.”
Scrapping the rule has effectively empowered the TV umpire even more now. “The on-field umpires will consult with the TV umpire before any decisions are taken," the ICC said.
“Soft signals have been discussed at previous cricket committee meetings over the last couple of years,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in the ICC media release on Monday. “The committee deliberated this at length and concluded that soft signals were unnecessary and at times confusing since referrals of catches may seem inconclusive in replays.”