Reflections

Things are tight at tea on the 4 th day of the England test match number 2. However, having been through the first two sessions play, one cant help wondering what the impact DRS and technology that has come in cricket is having on the nature of verdict giving in cricket. In the first session today, after England had exhausted their reviews, saeed ajmal got one from monty on the pad while playing forward and there was a vociferous appeal for a leg before. However, to the surprise of many it was given not out. Pakistan still had a review in hand. When contemplated upon, the thought creeped into my head about what such a situation would make the umpire do. He’s been under severe pressure on a spinning wicket with quality spinners and out of form batsmen on both sides. The team appealing for an lbw doesn’t have any reviews left so they cant challenge the umpires decision whereas the batting side can. As an umpire, would you risk being challenged have to your name an incorrect decision to ...

Test match cricket is cricket in it’s pristine form, but most cricket fans would agree that it is for a particular niche of followers only. However, unfortunately, even this niche is losing interest in test cricket today. This is primarily because a reasonable number of test matches still end up in a draws and that test matches often produce certain periods of play that are extremely dull.   As such, certain steps should be taken in order to address these factors. Firstly, the criteria used in one dayers for declaring a ball ‘wide’ should be adopted in test matches also. Why should a bowler in a test match be allowed to ball a line that is beyond the batsman’s reach? Making this criterion strict will cause the bowlers to bowl closer to the batsmen more often, thereby making the batsman to play at the ball more often. Secondly, there should be 2 fielders in catching position at all times in a test innings and there shouldn’t be more than 3 fielders allowed outside the 15 yard circle...