Shane McMahon's Ass
11-27-2009, 10:16 AM
CRICKET'S new decision review system was never going to be perfect.
Johnson was twice given out caught behind off tall spinner Sulieman Benn by umpire Ian Gould despite technology strongly suggesting he didn't hit the ball. Like many things in cricket, the decision wasn't cut and dried. It was a tough call.
And, the whole episode - played out over a few minutes before lunch on day two - showed the referral system doesn't handle grey areas well. Slow-motion replays indicated Johnson's bat hit his pad and either just missed the ball or got an extremely faint edge as he played a forward defensive stroke.
The hotspot technology - viewed by third umpire Mark Benson - couldn't pick up any contact, strengthening Johnson's argument he plain missed the ball. But Gould, after given the evidence of modern-day gadgetry by Benson, stuck by his original decision, to show benefit of the doubt is alive and well in Test cricket.
An aggrieved Johnson was well within his rights to shake his head in astonishment on the way off. It was the second time in two occasions in the first Test, the first time the system has been used on Australian soil, a referral had been turned down.
The Windies were denied a confident leg-before shout against Ricky Ponting on the opening day as Hawkeye suggested the ball would have clipped the bails. Gould, backing himself over the technology, stuck by his initial call then also.
The great irony is if Gould had originally given Ponting out and Johnson not out, and the decisions would have been referred, he would stuck with those decisions as well as the evidence from replays were inconclusive. Therein lies the rub of the review system.
It was introduced by the International Cricket Council to eradicate the umpiring howlers which have caused more and more grief in the game over the past decade.
It's designed to eliminate the type of wrong decision which saw Andrew Symonds given not out to a blatant caught behind at the SCG two summers ago and then go on to make a century.
The umpire in question, Jamaican Steve Bucknor, was burned in effigy in India in the aftermath, and his career never recovered. The referral system is a positive for the game to eradicate such dud decisions, which get highlighted more and more by broadcasters, and also cut down frivolous appeals.
But it's limited in shedding much light on the debateable ones.
Johnson was twice given out caught behind off tall spinner Sulieman Benn by umpire Ian Gould despite technology strongly suggesting he didn't hit the ball. Like many things in cricket, the decision wasn't cut and dried. It was a tough call.
And, the whole episode - played out over a few minutes before lunch on day two - showed the referral system doesn't handle grey areas well. Slow-motion replays indicated Johnson's bat hit his pad and either just missed the ball or got an extremely faint edge as he played a forward defensive stroke.
The hotspot technology - viewed by third umpire Mark Benson - couldn't pick up any contact, strengthening Johnson's argument he plain missed the ball. But Gould, after given the evidence of modern-day gadgetry by Benson, stuck by his original decision, to show benefit of the doubt is alive and well in Test cricket.
An aggrieved Johnson was well within his rights to shake his head in astonishment on the way off. It was the second time in two occasions in the first Test, the first time the system has been used on Australian soil, a referral had been turned down.
The Windies were denied a confident leg-before shout against Ricky Ponting on the opening day as Hawkeye suggested the ball would have clipped the bails. Gould, backing himself over the technology, stuck by his initial call then also.
The great irony is if Gould had originally given Ponting out and Johnson not out, and the decisions would have been referred, he would stuck with those decisions as well as the evidence from replays were inconclusive. Therein lies the rub of the review system.
It was introduced by the International Cricket Council to eradicate the umpiring howlers which have caused more and more grief in the game over the past decade.
It's designed to eliminate the type of wrong decision which saw Andrew Symonds given not out to a blatant caught behind at the SCG two summers ago and then go on to make a century.
The umpire in question, Jamaican Steve Bucknor, was burned in effigy in India in the aftermath, and his career never recovered. The referral system is a positive for the game to eradicate such dud decisions, which get highlighted more and more by broadcasters, and also cut down frivolous appeals.
But it's limited in shedding much light on the debateable ones.