Counting the cost of the umpire DRS
The Pakistan Cricket Board baulked at the cost of using the controversial umpire Decision Review System in their “neutral” Test series against Australia, and while it’s a decision that doesn’t looked to have changed the course of the match, it could have.
And this is not the only series this summer where the DRS won’t feature either, with the three-Test series between Sri Lanka and India also to be played without the technology after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 decided against its use.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 skipper Kumar Sangakkara, however, takes an opposing standpoint. "As a player and a team, we are very much for the umpire decision review system," Sangakkara told reporters ahead of the series, which begins on July 18th.
The Sri Lanka captain was also outspoken in his views about the absence of the DRS for the Test series between the two sides in India last year, when he said “decisions cost us over 500 runs and a lot of wickets.”
It didn’t take long to notice the absence of the DRS in the Lord’s Test between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, where opener Simon Katich may have found himself back in the pavilion for just two runs in the first innings had the system been in use, but Pakistan’s lbw appeal was in vain and the opener went on to make a watchful 80, a knock that was the cornerstone of Australia’s 253-run first-innings total.
Ricky Ponting’s team may have gained the advantage from the absence of technology there, but were on the receiving end of two dubious lbw decisions later in the innings when Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120’s classy 47-run innings came to an end from a delivery TV viewers had the opportunity to see may well have been heading down the leg side.
As Australian wickets began to fall in rapid succession at the end of day one, Steven Smith was another who may have benefitted from the DRS, with hotspot technology indicating the ball had grazed the bat before into crashed into his pads, the debutant scoring just one run for the innings.
And while Ponting, who made 26 in the first innings, may have had the chance in the second innings to improve on his uninspiring batting record at the ground he made the mistake of padding up to a late swinging delivery from Mohammad Asif and the umpire duly raised his finger. Problem was that replays again showed the ball would have missed the stumps.
While the decisions may not ultimately prove decisive to the outcome of this match, where at lunch on day three Australia look to have the upper hand, there’s no guarantee this would prove the case on every occasion, and it may not when Sri Lanka host India for their three Tests, or when Australia and Pakistan move to Headingly for the second Test of the series.
And if that does prove to be the case, expect the calls for the compulsory use of the DRS, and the questions about who should pay for it, to grow in both volume and number over the coming weeks.
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