SEPTEMBER 7 2019 LISTENER 45
C
ricket’s decision review system (DRS)
has revealed its true purpose: to subject
umpires to repeated public humiliation.
The three umpires who have stood so far in
the Ashes series– Pakistan’s Aleem Dar, New
Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney and West Indian
Joel Wilson – have made, and been seen on
the big screen to make, so many wrong calls
that they must have prayed for the stumps to
be sent flying so they were spared having to
make a decision.
The DRS involves the use of technology
to limit, rather than eliminate, human error.
The arbitrary restrictions on its use make it
something of a lottery, and the process itself
constantly puts umpires in the embarrassing
position of having the all-seeing third umpire
instruct them to repudiate their decisions.
Inevitably, the third Ashes test was decided
by an umpiring blunder. Absurdly, the onus is
now on fielding captains to get their reviews
right rather than on the officials to arrive at
correct decisions.
When delayed concussion ruled Steve
Smith out of the Lord’s test, Marnus
Labuschagne became cricket’s first
concussion replacement. And a valuable one
he was, too: his second-innings half-century
played a big part in Australia getting away
with a draw.
But it raises a question: if Australia could
replace Smith, why couldn’t England replace
senior fast bowler Jimmy Anderson after he
injured a calf on the first morning of the first
test? Being a bowler down for both Australian
innings put England at a huge disadvantage
that the Aussies, Smith in particular, exploited
to the hilt. Why the anomaly?
The thinking, presumably, is that allowing
bowlers to be replaced would lead to
injuries being faked in order to drag a
non-performer off the field and/or
introduce a type of bowler better
suited to the conditions. Surely
rigorous medical protocols and
an insistence on like-for-like
replacements would guard
against that. It’s a strange
mindset that punishes a team
for an individual’s injury and
does away with the level playing
field in order to forestall
hypothetical sharp practice.Judge dread
Who’d want to be an
umpire with the DRS
watching every move?
GE
TT
Y
IM
AG
ES“This man will
change the entireoutlook of fast
bowling in the
modern era.”“Trotty was in shreds,” wrote
England star batsman Kevin Pietersen
in his autobiography. “The tailenders
were scared. It was clear that Johnson
was already a weapon that we had no
answer to.” And although Pietersen,
whose self-regard defied standard
measurements, tended to hold
himself apart from his team, on this
occasion he lumped himself in with
the rest: “I was sitting there thinking
‘I could die here in the f---ing Gab-
batoir.’ I was petrified.”
A
rcher will leave his mark on the
game and on many more bats-
men. But although the media’ssusceptibility to next big things is
well documented, the hype surround-
ing Archer is somewhat disrespectful
to another fast bowler who’s also
playing a major part in the series:
Fiery: England’s
Jofra Archer, a
“match winner
in all conditions”.Australia’s Pat Cummins. What’s
more, Cummins has had to overcome
huge adversity to become the spear-
head of Australia’s pace attack.
In 2011, Cummins was very defi-
nitely the next big thing. Thrust into
a must-win test in Johannesburg, he
claimed the man-of-the-match award
by taking six wickets in South Africa’s
second innings and chipping in with
the bat in a tense and successful run
chase. He was 18 years old.
As a result of a succession of
back injuries, he didn’t play
another test for six years. He’s now
the No 1 ranked bowler in test
cricket and boasts a better aver-
age than genuine
greats such as
Glenn McGrath,
Dale Steyn and Sir
Richard Hadlee. lConcussion:
Steve Smith
was ruled out of
the Lord’s test.