By Tony Cozier
in St. John’s
There have been innumerable umpiring errors that have altered the course, if not determined the outcome, of Test matches down the years.
That is the nature of the game but the West Indies again had more than their fair share on the fourth day of the second Test yesterday.
The most crippling were three in the space of four balls by Russell Tiffin that helped Brett Lee’s awesome spell of fast swing bowling before lunch turn a match slowly but surely heading towards a draw into the probability of an Australian victory.
Another, late in the day by Mark Benson, that denied Jerome Taylor a deserved third wicket was less significant. But the decision that favoured Andrew Symonds on a gloved leg-side catch was the exact opposite to that against Dwayne Bravo off his thigh pad at that start of Tiffin’s triple intervention.
They inevitably raised, once again, the increasingly debated subject of the use of television technology to aid umpires for each one was shown, on replay, to be flawed.
Last March, the International Cricket Council (ICC) board approved a trial for an umpire review system that would allow players to ask the on-field umpire to review any aspect of a decision, other than line, in consultation with the third umpire. Each team would be limited to a maximum of three unsuccessful referrals in an innings.
