By Haydn Gill in Jamaica
Ramnaresh Sarwan was a major beneficiary of the trial referral system yesterday, but he is not too much in favour of it.
The West Indies No. 3 twice had to wait anxiously when decisions against him were referred by standing umpire Tony Hill to TV replay official Daryl Harper on the second day of the first Digicel Test against England at Sabina Park.
“I’m not a big fan of it. We played with it in New Zealand and it was a bit confusing,” Sarwan said about the system.
“I’m not a big fan of it, but I’ll take it today [yesterday]. In our team, not many guys are keen on it, but nevertheless it is important that you concentrate on what you have to do and just try to take it out of your mind.”
Under the trial, each team is allowed two unsuccessful referrals per innings, one fewer than when it was used in New Zealand Sarwan’s main concern over the system surrounds the human element.
“It takes the umpires out of the game. You are only human. You make mistakes. That is something we need to understand,” he said.
“I’m not part of what rules are organised or what they should use, but I guess I just have to play with it.
Sarwan, who finished the day unbeaten on 74 in a strong West Indies reply of 160 for one in response to England’s 318, was on two when England unsuccessfully challenged an lbw appeal that was turned down against Andrew Flintoff to a ball television replays showed pitched outside leg stump.
When he was on five, he was ruled lbw to Steve Harmison. Sarwan asked for a referral and the decision was reversed by on the evidence that the ball might have gone over the stumps.
“It was 50-50. I felt the pain in my knee. I asked Chris [Gayle] how it looked and he said it was close,” Sarwan said. “Because I felt the pain in my knee, there was doubt in my mind.”
