Ben Stokes calls for removal of soft signal to empower third umpire "to make the decision"

England's Test captain has called in the past for the decision to be left solely to the third umpire and reiterated his stance on Twitter following the decision in the third Test between Australia and South Africa

Ben Stokes has once again called for the removal of the soft signal made by on-field officials before decisions are referred to the third umpire.

The England Test captain was commenting in response to Simon Harmer's slip catch to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne in the third Test between Australia and South Africa, which was declared not out by Richard Kettleborough, the third umpire, who determined the ball had touched the ground before ending up in Harmer's hands.

Stokes clarified that his tweet wasn't "a comment on the decision".

Instead, he wrote: "ICC should get rid off (sic) the soft signal and let the 3rd umpire who has all the technology to make the decision when the on field umpires send it upstairs, all the controversy is always around the soft signal given."

He previously made similar thoughts known on Twitter last July after a catch by Jos Buttler to dismiss Rilee Rossouw in a T20I was overturned, with the ball deemed to have bounced.

^{Harmer's catch was adjudged not to have been taken cleanly by the third umpire (Mark Kolbe/Getty Imges)}

Plenty of other players and ex-players have shared similar opinions – among them Virat Kohli, Stuart Broad and Michael Atherton – while the Indian Premier League removed the use of the soft signal ahead of its 2021 edition.

At Sydney, Labuschagne was ultimately reprieved by Kettleborough despite an on-field decision of out from Paul Reiffel, which followed a conversation with colleague Chris Gaffaney.

There have been suggestions recently that the role of the soft signal has now changed from its previous guise, where the third umpire could only overturn a decision with enough evidence to go against the soft call from the on-field officials.

Isa Guha, presenting Fox Sports' coverage of the Test, tweeted that the ICC directive is now for the soft signal to be taken only where there isn't footage for the third umpire to make their own decision.

ICC should get rid off the soft signal and let the 3rd umpire who has all the technology to make the decision when the on field umpires send it upstairs,all the controversy is always around the soft signal given.
This isn’t a comment on the decision FYI 🤣🤣 https://t.co/rvOeJEfnKF

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) January 4, 2023

"The soft signal is an indication from the on-field umpires of how they saw it," she wrote. "It is the TV umpires' decision based on the info from the various camera angles. Therefore, the TV umpire must make a decision. Only when there is no footage will the TV umpire indicate this and have to go with the on-field indication."

But the ICC's playing conditions for men's Test matches, effective from November, don't make mention of that shift. Rather they still state that "if the third umpire advises that the replay evidence is inconclusive, the on-field decision communicated at the start of the consultation process shall stand".

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