DRS - Saviour or Destroyer?

I have been unable to blog recently due to the amount of cricket going on around the world and every time there was something to criticise another incident worth abusing had occurred so I decided to have a look at the hot topic in cricket at the minute the dreaded Decision Review System or DRS.

This is one of my biggest concerns with cricket at the moment especially Test cricket the question which must be answered initially is if the changes will significantly improve either the standard or enhance the viewers pleasure? I would like to come up with reasons for and against but I am struggling as I only see cons with this latest piece of technology. The concept is all well and good and there are instances in other sports where this kind of system works but in cricket there are just too many times where it could be used so to limit each team to two is my first question?

The whole mantra of DRS is to eliminate the shocker get rid of the really bad decisions but the modern era consists of an elite panel of umpires all of whom are top officials and are very good at their job, the shocker had become less of an issue since the inception of this panel. So now we basically have two occasions where teams try and nick a wicket one which was clipping leg stump or hitting just on the line of the stumps it makes a mockery of the two men out in the middle who are robots constantly referring to the third umpire who has more to do these days in a Test match than the on field umpires.

Being in the top order now puts you doubly at risk, as Kevin Pietersen has recently stated, because it may be worth using a review to get the star player removed and by the time the middle or lower order are in there are no reviews left so less at risk. Also if two reviews are used up despite the system showing the batsman would have been out if the finger was raised initially (i.e. the ball was hitting the stumps but was an umpires call) the team using them have now been punished as they cannot use them later in the innings despite being essentially right in the reviews they decided to use.

Before it is enforced around the world by the ICC surely they must research if there are more wrong decisions previously than there are now. I would imagine it is few and far between so before spending fortunes on implementing this system would it not be better spent on rewarding players for playing Test cricket to lure them away from IPL cricket. All in all I think the only people in favour of DRS are spin bowlers who force batsmen to use their bat and I know many readers would see this as a good thing but it made for a pretty farcical series in Dubai recently where almost every delivery creating a possible DRS opportunity.

Let me just say I am not opposed to all technology introduced to cricket I think that the third umpire being used for line decisions was innovative and has proved a fantastic addition to the game of cricket because the majority of decisions are black and white it is either out or not, the same cannot be said for DRS. Another issue is all the time wasted while the decision is going on making what is quite a slow game even slower, I miss celebrating a wicket without thinking how many reviews each team has left and talking about decisions being right or wrong it is what makes cricket and sport great.

Same old England

It seemed as though we had gone back in time on the final day of the second Test match between Pakistan and England as the visitors collapsed in an all too familiar fashion for people of my generation. Clueless against spin along with a lack of grit or determination meant the result was inevitable. In a match which was controlled for the most part by England it was a pathetic effort in the last innings chasing a very modest total.

Pedestrian batting once again from Pakistan started the Test match and the 257 posted was below average with Stuart Broad picking up four wickets and proving he is an effective cricketer on all surfaces around the world. This being said how can the top four in an International team be bowled? It is the one dismissal that should never occur when you are in the top order it shows a lack of discipline, technique and more worryingly ability. Whilst on the subject, in the match going on Down Under where Australia were destroying India Shaun Marsh was somehow able to get bowled through the gate playing outside of the ball even though it had spun. To say he played down the wrong line would be an understatement it was as playing two balls at once and picked the wrong one.

England responded with a decent total and by gaining a lead made it very difficult for Pakistan to win from that position but after solid contributions from Cook and Trott the middle order is brittle to say the least. This should be explosive with the talent of players coming in but they cannot play spin at all. Even if they were told which way it would spin before the delivery they would struggle it seems. So it was left to a cameo from Broad again to revive England and get them up to a competitive score. It was Pakistan's turn to bat so no need to set any alarms for this as after watching each batsman bat with a strike rate of twelve you will be back to sleep in no time. I am not someone who is after all out aggressive cricket but when you are on top as a batsman you need to kick on and take advantage in order to make match winning contributions.

Just as a side note Panesar bowled beautifully throughout the match and it was because of the team selection although I still maintain that one of the middle order should have been sacrificed as they put up a fairly meagre total between them so it would not have made a difference to go with another bowler despite Tremletts injury. Now onto the debacle that was the England second innings the brainless attempt at chasing down 145 for victory.

It began with Cook working against the spin and a leading edge back to the bowler, this is supposed to be one of the most intelligent bowlers in the team. Followed by Bell, promoted to three as Trott had some sort of virus, and as a big Bell fan it pains me to watch him bat against good spin bowling but he was bowled playing on which essentially put him out of his misery. The main man in at four, the superstar, the hero but this was not to be again as Pietersen was out lbw to a straight ball yet he still had the audacity to review the decision. Morgan bowled second ball playing back. You cannot play back to quick spin it's such common knowledge it has been around for as long as cricket has so surely the rest of the team would be aware of this? Nope skipper out lbw playing back along with Trott out in the same fashion it was like watching the remedial class batting although they would easily have shown more intelligence.

The procession continued with more batsmen playing back and the game was over in no time another comfortable victory in the end for Pakistan who have outplayed England the whole series despite being a pretty average side themselves. The series in Australia has been just as one sided with a dismal display from India who are as abject at playing hostile pace bowling as England are at playing spin. The circus surrounding Tendulkars' potential hundredth International hundred is now threatening to become about as interesting as whether Carlos Tevez will ever play for Manchester City again.

The final Test begins tomorrow morning so we will see if England have learnt any lessons but judging from the previous two lacklustre attempts I wont be holding my breath.