ICC confirms Smart Replay System for Women's T20 World Cup 2024, announces commentary team

ICC announced the Smart Replay System for the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup 2024 on Wednesday. To provide the best broadcast experience to fans all around the globe, the Smart Replay System technology will be used for the first time in any ICC event.

The same system was used in the recent Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL) and The Hundred tournaments. The ICC confirmed that the Smart Replay System will be implemented for all the games and it will assist third umpires in 'accurate decision-making'.

"ICC TV will produce the live coverage for all matches of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, ensuring that the global audience can enjoy every moment of the action," ICC media release said. "The coverage will feature a minimum of 28 cameras at every game, and will be complemented by a variety of analytical and visual enhancements.

"The Decision Review System (DRS) will also be available at all matches, with a Hawk-eye Smart Replay system in place that enables the TV umpire



to instantly review synchronized multi-angle footage for accurate decision-making."

The Decision Review System will be integrated with Hawk-eye and the Smart Replay System will provide faster and more accurate results to third umpire. The introduction of the Smart Replay System erases the role of the broadcast director, the connection between the hawk-eye operator and the third umpire. 

Meanwhile, the ICC also announced the star-studded commentary team for the 9th edition of the Women's T20 World Cup starting on October 3 in the UAE. The World Cup winners Mel Jones, Lisa Sthalekar, Stacy Ann King, Lydia Greenway, and Carlos Brathwaite lead the female commentary panel with the former Indian star Anjum Chopra and former coach WV Raman and the Kiwi veteran Katey Martin.

Famous commentators Ian Bishop, Natalie Germanos and Nasser Hussain will be joined by Alison Mitchell, Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Kass Naidoo with the latter also sharing pre-game shows with Laura McGoldrick.