Lanning welcomes DRS challenge

Ground-breaking coverage of this year’s Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean has added an extra and welcome challenge for players, says Australian captain Meg Lanning.

With every match of a women’s ICC event to be broadcast live for the first time, it’s also the first time the Decision Review System will be available at the tournament.

The use of DRS in T20Is was only introduced in October 2017, so it was not part of the most recent World T20 in 2016.

While the third umpire is regularly used in women’s broadcast matches for run-outs and stumpings, player reviews are an added element for all teams to come to grips with in this tournament.

Lanning’s team had their first brush with the technology during last year’s 50-over World Cup, but the technology only applied to their group games that were broadcast and their semi-final.

“We’ve spoken about it a lot,” Lanning said following Australia’s warm-up match on Tuesday.

“We’re trying to get our processes right with when we will review and when we won’t, but it’s hard to practice until you get into the games.

“To be honest the decisions don’t get overturned very often, so you’ve got to make sure if you do review, its pretty clearly the wrong decision.

Normal T20I DRS rules will apply, with each team permitted one unsuccessful review per innings (if a review is successful, it is not counted against that team).

It’s a new challenge for the 10 competing teams, but it’s an advancement Lanning has welcomed.

“The men’s game has it so it’s great we can have it in such a big tournament as well,” she said.

“Mistakes happen, so it’s nice we’ve got that peace of mind there in case we need it.”

Every match of the World T20 will be broadcast live on Fox Cricket in Australia, while the Nine Network will show every Australian match.

The ICC and Star Sports confirmed their commentary line-up in the lead-up to Friday’s opening triple header at Guyana’s Providence Stadium, which will see New Zealand play India, Australia meet Pakistan and hosts West Indies take on Bangladesh.

It features former Australian players Mel Jones and Lisa Sthalekar, former India captain Anjum Chopra, former England captain Nasser Hussain, former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar and former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop in a 14-member panel.

The coverage will see a minimum of 22 cameras at all three venues across Guyana, St Lucia and Antigua, while the semi-finals and the final at Antigua’s Sir Vivian Richards Stadium will also see the use of a Spidercam.

The opening game between New Zealand and India begins at 2am Saturday AEDT, followed by Australia’s first game at 7am AEDT.

For news, live scores and highlights throughout the tournament, head to cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.

2018 ICC Women's World T20  

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

November 9: Australia v Pakistan, Province Stadium, Guyana

November 11: Australia v Ireland, Province Stadium

November 13: Australia v New Zealand, Province Stadium

November 17: Australia v India, Province Stadium

November 22: Semi-finals, Sir Vivian Richards Ground, Antigua

November 24: Final, Sir Vivian Richards Ground