Ok. I’m going to take a deep breath before writing this. First of all, lets deal with the pitch … It’s flat, and it got flatter as the first day progressed. Bumble, the one member of the Sky team with local knowledge, doesn’t think it will break up as the game progresses. Let’s hope he’s right. In theory, it won’t be easy for either team to take 20 wickets on this. When it does occasionally offer a bit of seam movement, it’s so extravagant (and seemingly random) that it misses the bat by a...
What Prior’s stroke of luck could mean for DRS
This blog is a broad church when it comes to the Decision Review System. My colleague James is a keen advocate, while I’ve always been an opponent – one reason being that ball-tracking still requires assumptions and guess-work, just as naked-eye umpiring does. Which is why I couldn’t help but be intrigued by an e-mail from TFT reader Giffenman, who draws a very interesting conclusion from Matt Prior’s lucky escape in the final innings at Auckland last week. I’ll...
The countdown and the conundrum – day four at Nagpur
England 330. India 326-9 dec. England 161-3 Well you didn’t think we were going to breeze it, did you? Much as we’d have loved Kevin Pietersen to score a run a ball hundred and take the game away from India completely, it was never going to happen on this abysmal pitch. All things considered 161-3 was a pretty good effort – even if the cricket was duller than a dinner party involving Duncan Fletcher, Gordon Brown and Prince Charles. The fact of the matter is that we’re still edging – quite...
The joy of no DRS
I’ll tell you what I’ve particularly enjoyed about the India v England series. Not Alastair Cook’s imperious form, nor the resurgence of Monty Panesar, not even England’s stirring comeback since Ahmedabad – tremendous though all three have been. No. What I’ve liked is this: no DRS. And I’m aware that in holding this view I’m almost certainly in a very small minority, perhaps of one. I’m saying this not as a great sage of the game, which I...
How will DRS affect village cricket?
The law of unintended consequences. That’s the phrase we’ve heard from pundits many a time over recent months, as the cricketing cognoscenti absorb the impact of the Umpire Decision Review System. As we now know, computerised ball-tracking is doing far more than simply ensure fewer incorrect decisions. It’s changed the whole relationship between bat and ball, at least when the spinners are on. Umpires are much more aware of how big the stumps are, and as a result are now...
It’s time to review the DRS – day one from Dubai
Who would have thought that a game watched by approximately sixteen people and three goats would demonstate, more than any other, that the DRS has totally changed the sport? Sixteen wickets fell on the first day of the third test – and what’s more, the pitch was perfectly good. England bowled superbly in the morning. To dismiss a team that chose to bat first for under 100 was an incredible effort. We did it through persistence, accuracy and skill – and not a doosra in sight. However, once again...
