Referral system to Ashes

The International Cricket Council knows when to bounce out of situation and not be on the losing side and being humiliated.

If this is not so, how can one explain the ICC's timely move not to introduce or force the referral or the review system during the Ashes Test series between Australia and England in July after the World Cup Twenty20.

Had the ICC asked Australia and England to agree and play to the referral system, they would have been asked to roll it up. Australia and England believe in playing the way it was invented to be played and that is that the Umpire's word is law.

The umpires designated to stand in the Ashes series would certainly heave a sigh of relief now that they would not be humiliated. Umpires rule a batsman out the way they see it happen. Their decision is made in a split second. They don't have the benefit of the TV to decide for them.

Umpires as we have stated many a time do not cheat. They too are human and errors are likely to creep in. If they cheat they will tend to lose their inclusion in the elite panel which means that they would lose their livelihood. So who is the umpire who would want to cheat?

players and umpires have a chat

If the teams playing have confidence in the umpires,that is what is needed for a good game which would be enjoyed by the participants. Before the game it would be good if players and umpires have a friendly chat and get to know each other over a few beers.

But the ICC has not done away with the system altogether. According to the ICC they tried it out in Four Test Series it had its good and bad. However, the system is controversial and had mixed opinions among players television commentators and cricket fans.

This system undermines the authority of the umpires who must be feeling uneasy, but the ICC says that there are more positives than negatives. We admit that this system is good because it would help keep the game clean. But at the same time it has its negatives, because it makes the on field umpire look bad when his decision is overturned.

It would be interesting to watch when this system would be called "play" again.

Day-night Test cricket

The International Cricket Council is also toying with the idea of playing a day-night Test match in 2010. To us that idea is nothing but ridiculous.

Test cricket has its traditions and appeal and those traditions are sacred and it must be kept that way. They should not tamper or tinker with it and lower its traditions by making it a joke, like what the 50-over and the Twenty20 games are today.

The limited over-versions of the game see batsmen making a mockery of the techniques of batting and the bowlers being negative. It is only the fielding that has stood to gain. Spectators have a ball and in toying with the idea of playing a day-night Test, isn't the ICC looking to heap scorn on the time honoured game of Test cricket?

True the ICC must find ways and means to improve,further develop the game and make it more appealing to the spectators. But there are many other ways to do this and not they way it is being played now.

Here again it would be interesting to watch how the ICC would go on this.

Windies write offs

The West Indies led by Chrys Gayle seem to be just honouring their engagements if the listless manner in which they surrendered the First Test to England is an indication.

The only excuse they can adduce is that they did not have time to train as a team, what with some of their players figuring in the IPL Twenty20. Gayle and Fidel Edwards arrived just a couple of days before the Lord's Test.

But in the Test, their batting was poor, bowling off line and what was atrocious was their fielding, especially their catching. They dropped six catches which was inexcusable and should have no place in the game.

They didn't seem to be in the know that adage - catches win matches. They must understand that dropped catches would not necessarily mean losing a match, but it could make winning all the more difficult.

When this is being read, the Second and Final Test would be in progress and it is hoped that the Windies would have learnt their lessons and took the field determined to give the Englishmen a good run and if possible gain sweet revenge by winning the Test. This is not beyond the cricketers from the Caribbean.

As for England they cannot be lulled into feeling confident that everything is tickety boo in their game and that they would be opponents to Ricky Ponting's Australians when Ashes time comes around. They have to further improve their game in all departments if they hope to erase and reverse the previous ignominy where they were thrashed five-nil in Australia.