Bowden fronts up

Cricket umpire Billy Bowden has backed cricket’s review system by which players will be able to refer umpires’ decisions to a television official for review. The system will be implemented in all Test matches from October. Bowden told the Sunday Star-Times that the system would have many benefits for cricket, including reducing negative media coverage. “Behavior will change, there is no doubt whatsoever,” Bowden said. “The reports that are made on players will change for the better. (Bad behavior) will be cut by half. The majority of the behavior is from an umpiring decision but if that can be corrected out on the field then everyone moves on.” Bowden said the review system would lift the rate of correct decisions made by test umpires from about 95 per cent to 99 per cent. The Star-Times interview was Bowden’s first in three years after a self-imposed media ban. Of his unique style Bowden told the paper: “Umpires have their own characters and their own personalities. We’re not clones. Were not paper cut-outs. It would be a boring place if we were all exactly the same. There’s no additives when you see me, no preservatives. It’s freshly squeezed. What you see is what you get.”