The Indian hegemony on International cricket was highlighted once again as the South African Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council failed to convince the Board of Control for Cricket in India to use the Umpire Decision
Review System in the forthcoming Test series between South Africa and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
The fragility of the governing body of the game was exposed once again as BCCI refused to given in to the pleas by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and ICC on the implementation of the UDRS for the Test series.
The BCCI has remained adamant that their team is not keen on the usage of UDRS; hence the opposing team has to compromise and play the top ranked Test team in the world without the aid of umpiring technology which is aimed at removing
dubious decisions from international cricket.
The South Africans vehemently spoke in the favour of the technology during their recent series against Pakistan where a number of controversial decisions were made by two on-field umpires Asoka De Silva and Daryl Harper.
Most of the decisions went in favour of the Proteas and against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 yet Graeme Smith the South African skipper spoke for the use of technology to iron out umpiring errors that can potentially change the course of a game.
The UDRS is in-use in the present Ashes series billed as the biggest contest in the game.
However the BCCI and their cricket team have refused to budge, the reason is believed to be their lack of success in understanding the system when it was first used in a Test series involving them and Sri Lanka in 2008.
Dhoni’s team lost the three matches test series 2-1, during the contest they struggled with their referrals getting only one review right, while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 successfully challenged 11 decisions.
Meanwhile the South African think tank has accepted the decision and has vowed to move on and concentrate at the task at hand, which is to dethrone India from the top ranking.
Corrie Van Zyl the South African coach said, “We are not going to use it and that’s the end of it… I like UDRS and it does eradicate a lot of decisions that are wrong, which can only be good for the game.”
On the other hand Graeme Smith who is recovering from a hand injury sustained during the series against Pakistan believes that UDRS is the way forward in cricket.
“I think if the UDRS is going to be successful it needs to be implemented properly by the ICC and not on a 50-50 basis like we have seen so far… It must be used all of the time and not for selective series' like we see now.”
Most of Smith’s team-mates have echoed their captain’s statements as they believe that it is important to get some of the really poor decisions out of the game.
The Proteas believe that most of the leading umpires in the game are in favour of having the UDRS implemented. According to them the umpires want a clean record in a Test match; hence they back the system and really want it in place.
For the time being though the Indians continue to have their way as the ICC does not think that messing with the strongest cricket board in the world and the biggest revenue generator in the game is a viable option.
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