Agree on DRS, a small price to pay for getting the correct decision. I think the 'umpire's call' bit is especially good. Cricket is a game with a 'break' between every delivery so having a slightly longer delay to get a key decision right is ok by me. I think the number of DRS's in this game was exceptional so it felt worse.
It irritates me more in rugby, where sometimes every try has to be checked for a forward pass 3 weeks ago, or a piece of foul play in training the day before the match etc.....;-)
off topic slightly, the advantage law in rugby needs looking at, at least it's implementation. It seem to me the refs play advantage until the team getting it screws up, then they get the ball back anyway. You play advantage, if you mess it up, tough.
Cheg - fundamental difference between cricket and tennis use of Hawkeye style ball tracking.
In tennis, the information is known and recorded as a matter of fact. In cricket, there is a predictive element so the exact answer can't be known. Obviously there are some cases where it's more certain than others, but (for example) in the case where the ball hits the boot a fraction of a second after the ground, the errors can be much greater. The frame rate of the cameras has been increased, but it will never be perfect for those marginal cases, hence there has to be some allowance.
I'm glad that they've changed the margins on umpires call so that it only 30% needs to be hitting rather than 50%, a better reflection of reality I think. The predictive element of Hawkeye is why the BCCI have only just accepted the DRS. Will be interesting to see how they get on with it over the next month or so.
I wouldn't be too concerned about the umpires and DRS at this test, the wicket was turning sharply at times and a bit unpredictable. Overall I think DRS is pretty good
I hear what you are saying Teaboy, interesting what Moley says about the change of %. I'd missed that. I just think you either go with the technology or don't, I do understand it's a prediction rather than Tennis which is actual. It is more the ones where it was green all over the shop and hitting half a stump and they were still saying we go with the umpire.
It wasn't really about a margin for error it felt like it was trying to protect the umpire and their decisions.
Free training & racing tools for runners, cyclists, swimmers & walkers.
Fetcheveryone lets you analyse your training, find races, plot routes, chat in our forum, get advice, play games - and more!
Nothing is behind a paywall, and it'll stay that way thanks to our awesome community!
The Ashes 2009
Jun 2022