West Indies v England, 4th Test, Bridgetown - Feb 26-Mar 2

Dello wrote:Said it before, say it again: this referral system is the biggest pile of crap since crap began.

Just leave it to the umpire. He'll get a few calls wrong, but that's life - at least we won't have the farce of every batsman who gets given out LBW automatically challenging it, and replays suggesting that some decisions are wrong but not "wrong enough" to overturn.

It all seems so cheap. It's not cricket.

Aye JD.

There was similar farce in the current Test in Jo'burg. Ponting wanted to refer a possible leg side catch of Duminy very early in his innings but the 3rd umpires room told Bucknor that they didn't have the pictures. People bagged Ponting at the time, but it was the technology that farked up.

P!ss the carp off as a total waste of time.

Thank God for Ronnie Sarwan.

From Dickinfo:

"Bopara's going to bowl now, with his shirt hanging out. What does he think this is? An Essex second XI match? Oh no sir."

[snort]

Windies just 3 runs away from avoiding the follow on. Not that I think Straws would enforce it anyway.

Stumps. Windies three runs away from beating the follow on and almost certainly guaranteeing a draw.

I didn't think England had 20 wickets in the them at the start of the match, but now I'm not sure they've even got 10 in them. And that's with Daryl Harper very much on board.

Sad.

WIFAN wrote:Thank God for Ronnie Sarwan.

Thankfully he is in such good form that he didn't let the ball hit his pad.

Dello wrote:Stumps. Windies three runs away from beating the follow on and almost certainly guaranteeing a draw.

I didn't think England had 20 wickets in the them at the start of the match, but now I'm not sure they've even got 10 in them. And that's with Daryl Harper very much on board.

Sad.

Aye Darryl Harper has put in a couple of good spells for us...

Not sure many sides would find 20 wickets on here easy though. Wicket needs a magic bowler...

kkf wrote:

Demelza wrote:This is what they're saying about Harper on CaribbeanCricket.com . . .

http://caribbeancricket.com/topic/912855

All 5 are questionable. The last 2 were inexcusable. I'm glad Dyson is going to see the match referee about this.

Dyson pretending not to be upset over the Harper decision on interview . . .

The thing is with these referals - its surely up to the players to be honest to some degree and only appeal when they are absolutely certain of an error.

You get the feeling half of them are trying their luck on some appeals, wouldn't surprise me to see someone who has had his poles knocked out of the ground to turn round and ask if that 'really was out old chap?'....

"least we won't have the farce of every batsman who gets given out LBW automatically challenging it"

You only get two incorrect challengers, so there's not much chance of that.

I don't think there's much wrong with the referral system at present: there seems to be a problem with the TV umpire in this match but that's by the by. (Harper and Tiffin involved in the same match ... I don't envy the players.)

"and replays suggesting that some decisions are wrong but not "wrong enough" to overturn."

I don't have a problem with that either. If you really can't be certain from the video evidence, it makes sense to let the original decision stand. We all accept that sometimes an umpire will be a dubious decision but what we want to eliminate is the deadset farkin shocker where someone is given out caught when the ball never passes within a yard of the bat.

I do think that more, and better, fixed cameras would help matters.

Just as an aside in the whole match farce, anyone finding Andrew Strauss' captaincy to be a little too cautious?

Yes.

Especially considering England is down in the series.

On current evidence, Windies are going to win a five test series 1-0.

Why can't they interview Harper?

Augustus wrote:Just as an aside in the whole match farce, anyone finding Andrew Strauss' captaincy to be a little too cautious?

More so in the last game. Here, the pitch has offered nothing but a little turn and he's got a pretty ineffective attack so was trying to limit the scoring in the hope WI would make mistakes.

To be honest, if I were WI i'd serve up another of these in the last test too. I was wondering what the strips would be like in this series, and they've been nothing like as helpful 2003...

Trinidave Joined: 2/12/2002
Posts: 19348 28/02/09 15:31:46
Dis is some serious tiefery. Dem facters really need ah beatdown.




I think someone is taking the piss.

Ha ha, Nasser asked Alan Hurst if he thought Harper is a competent umpire

OP Tipping wrote:Trinidave Joined: 2/12/2002
Posts: 19348 28/02/09 15:31:46
Dis is some serious tiefery. Dem facters really need ah beatdown.

I think someone is taking the piss.

Those caribbeancricket.com folk are a bunch of paranoids. Anyone giving a decision against the Windies is a secret KKK member. Having said that - it's a great read...

OP Tipping wrote:Trinidave Joined: 2/12/2002
Posts: 19348 28/02/09 15:31:46
Dis is some serious tiefery. Dem facters really need ah beatdown.
I think someone is taking the piss.

Dats 'ow day speak in da Carib be an

But I do think that they might want to think about taking lbw off the roster. A batsman, often, is unsure whether he is out lbw, whereas he almost always knows whether he has hit the ball.

JKLever wrote:

Augustus wrote:Just as an aside in the whole match farce, anyone finding Andrew Strauss' captaincy to be a little too cautious?

More so in the last game. Here, the pitch has offered nothing but a little turn and he's got a pretty ineffective attack so was trying to limit the scoring in the hope WI would make mistakes.

To be honest, if I were WI i'd serve up another of these in the last test too. I was wondering what the strips would be like in this series, and they've been nothing like as helpful 2003...

caribbean had some okay pitches pre-wc, but i think it helps when you've got Flintoff, SiJo, Hoggy and Harmi (and Piles!!!) bowling on them...

and for once they have a real case. This has been thievery unfortunately.

The England win is still possible here, but it will depend on their willingness to play their shots.

got to get five wickets first. and i bet that takes more than two sessions.

(unless daryl harper remembers on which side his bread is buttered again)

OP Tipping wrote:The England win is still possible here, but it will depend on their willingness to play their shots.

Not enough time left. Say they bowl out WI for another 100 at lunch. 5 sessions left with 100 lead? Nah....

OP Tipping wrote:The England win is still possible here, but it will depend on their willingness to play their shots...

... when they bat again, halfway through day five...

Basil wrote:Right, make your day 3 predictions here:

I'll go with 393 for 8 by close of play.

Ah well, I was only 5 runs out on the score