David Warner wants umpires dropped for repeat mistakes at World Cup

David Warner has seen it in the NRL and wants umpires to pay for their mistakes at the World Cup.

David Warner wants umpires to be dropped for bad decisions just like in the NRL and called for an explainer on just how the decision review system works after becoming frustrated by lineball calls at the World Cup.

After contentiously being given out LBW for just 11 in Australia’s first win of the tournament against Sri Lanka, Warner smashed his bat against his pad and yelled in the direction of umpire Joel Wilson as he departed.

Wilson’s on-field out decision was backed by the ball-tracking technology, which showed the ball hitting leg stump to return an “umpire’s call” verdict.

Warner, who has played more than 300 internationals, all coming after the DRS system was introduced in 2008, said he “never had Hawk-Eye come in and explain to us how the technology actually works” and an explanation could help players.

“If they could come in and explain to us how it works, then sometimes we might (choose) not to refer or to refer,” he said, expressing his frustration, concerned conditions could dictate differences in ball-tracking particularly.

“At the moment, we seem to be waiting for (ball-tracking), and as a player you get more frustrated because you think, ‘Did they line it up, what’s the impact points, how many impact points are there before it goes on’.

David Warner reviews his LBW decision against Sri Lanka. Picture: Arun Sankar / AFP

“In England, the ball bounces and it actually moves once it‘s bounced, not just off the seam but in the air it can move, so there’s just little things that as a player you get frustrated because there’s no explanation … but there has to be some accountability.”

Warner, a huge fan of NRL team the Sydney Roosters, said that accountability should extend to umpires paying for their mistakes.

In this year’s NRL finals series, referee Ashley Klein was dropped to the bunker after a substandard performance, with several instances of officials who made mistakes being punted from their roles on a week-to-week basis.

“You know, obviously players get dropped for poor performances. It‘s never explained to us about What goes on with the (umpire) panel as well,” Warner said

“If you get a decision wrong, just accept it and apologise. Players aren’t going to bite your head off. Umpires aren’t going to bite your head off if you ask them the question. They’re generally pretty honest.

“You see it with the bunker in the NRL. You get absolute stinkers and some umpires don’t umpire the next game.

“You definitely know which umpires are going to give those 50-50 ones when it hits the pad, and that’s where from my perspective it gets frustrating.

“There’s no bias in anything. It’s just that you feel that as a player sometimes.”

Warner has made just 65 runs in three World Cup innings so far ahead of Australia’s fourth clash with Pakistan on Friday.