#ashes2013

Michael Clarke was asked at the toss if he knew which two captains had led Australia to 5-0 Ashes clean sweeps. Yes, Warwick Armstrong and Ricky Ponting, he replied. Now there are three. Fittingly, it all ended in Clarke's hands.

Shit happens! 

When Shane Watson sends his LBW dismissals his isn’t using the DRS technology as it was intended.

When Shane Watson gets trapped on the front foot and rapped on the pad, he knows well and good that he certainly didn’t edge the ball, so what is he trying to overturn?

For Shane to overturn the decision he needs one of four things to happen:

1.     The bowler has overstepped and delivered a no-ball (not very likely unless you’re facing Siddle)

2.     The ball has pitched outside leg (England aren’t playing a left-arm bowler so this is about as likely as Watson converting a start into a score)

3.     The ball has hit him outside the line (Given he plants his front foot in the same place for every delivery with metronome like precision it’s likely going to be on the decision sticks)

4.     The ball is missing the stumps.

Number 4 is the most likely option, but is hope a good enough reason to use up one of your referrals?

The DRS was brought in for one reason – to clear up the howlers. It was designed for the instances when a player had chopped one into has pads, or when an edge was mistaken for late swing. It wasn’t designed to be used if you simply thought you may or may be out.

Watson’s a goose but he hasn’t been the only controversial decision from DRS so far in the two Ashes test. Jonathon Trott, Ashton Agar, and to a slightly lesser extent Brad Haddin in the first test have all been victim to questionable decisions from the third umpire. While hotspot has been the problem in all these instances (and I am secretly blaming that on the English weather) I still don’t think this is the issue.

Hawkeye is the problem with DRS. Without Hawkeye, people like Watson can have no gripe. What about the bowlers you say? Well surely the umpires can be trusted enough to make the decision?

By keeping hot spot, and also introducing snicko, we can ensure there’s enough technology in place to ensure no one gets robbed, but avoid the time-wasting and controversy of putting the decision in the hands of a computer.

You may also recall that in India there was no DRS used, as was the case when they toured our shores in 2011. Did you really miss it when it wasn’t there? Cricket without the technology served us well for over a hundred years so surely it can’t be that bad to put a bit more trust in the umpires.