India-New Zealand WTC final explainer: when would the reserve day be in play?
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday (May 28) announced the playing conditions for the much-anticipated World Test Championship (WTC) final to be played between India and New Zealand in Southampton from June 18th to 22nd.
The governing body confirmed through its statement that India and New Zealand will be declared joint winners in case no outright result is possible after five days and an additional day’s play.
The ICC also confirmed that the WTC final will be played with the Grade 1 Dukes cricket balls, making it neutral for both the teams, with the SG balls used in India and Kookaburra balls in New Zealand.
But a major topic of discussions heading into the ICC announcement around the WTC final was the ‘reserve day’. Here’s explaining when would the reserve day come into the equation for the five-day WTC final.
Also Read: How Have New Zealand’s Top 5 Quicks Fared In The World Test Championship (WTC) So Far
The ICC has set June 23rd as the potential ‘reserve day’, which would be used for the WTC final “only” if the “lost playing time cannot be recovered through the normal provisions of making up lost time each day.”
“The lost playing time” is determined by the number of minutes of play not possible on a particular day due to multiple reasons (in England, it’s generally the bad weather). The overs to be bowled in that period will be added to the next day’s play and the scheduled close of play will be adjusted accordingly. This has been a longstanding method to make up overs in Test cricket.
India and New Zealand to play the WTC final.
India-New Zealand WTC final explainer: when would the reserve day be in play?
In the case of potential interruptions during the rescheduled period, an over would be cut every four minutes and whatever time is lost will be added to the ‘reserve day’. The ‘reserve day’ for the WTC final will feature a minimum of 330 minutes or 83 overs plus the final hour.
To specify, if an hour of play is lost and is made up the very same day, it will be considered zero net time lost. If, however, for whatever reasons, the WTC final is reduced to a less than five-day affair in terms of the overall playing time even after adjusting for the lost period, the ‘reserve day’ would be deployed.
“In the event of time being lost during the match, the ICC Match Referee will regularly update the teams and media about the way in which the Reserve Day may be used. The final decision on whether the Reserve Day needs to be used will be announced at the scheduled start of the last hour on the fifth day,” the ICC stated.
The ICC also informed that the WTC final will have three new additions to the playing conditions, with focus on ‘short-runs, ‘player reviews’ and ‘DRS review process’.
For ‘short-runs’, the third umpire will be automatically reviewing any call made by the on-field umpire and communicate his final decision to the on-field umpire prior to the next delivery.
As for ‘player reviews’, the batsman dismissed or the fielding captain can now check with the on-field umpire whether “a genuine attempt has been made to play the ball” before they go ahead with their review.
A technical amendment has been made to the DRS review process, with the height margin of what is considered the ‘wicket zone’ now lifted to the “top of the stumps”. The ICC arrived at the decision to ensure the margin for the contentious ‘Umpire’s call’ around the stumps is “same” for both “height and width”.