DRS Saga Australian Media Slams BCCI

Wednesday 28th December, 2011 13 DRS saga Australian media slams BCCI

he Australian media today blasted the Indian Cricket Board for refus- Ponting Ting to use the Decision Review System after two home side players were dismissed controversially on the opening questions... day of the first cricket Test. Both Mike Hussey (0) and debutant MELBOURNE: Ricky Ponting has Ed Cowan (68) were adjudged caught joined his Australian team-mates in ques- behind by the on-field umpires even as tioning why the Decision Review System the TV replays suggested that they did is not being used in the Test series not edge the ball. against India, saying that the DRS should The ‘Daily Telegraph’ wrote that be used uniformly in every series Cowan was ‘robbed’ and that ‘Australia throughout the world. was gutted by howlers’. Mike Hussey (0) and Ed Cowan (68) “India’s stone-age attitude to technol- fell to controversial decisions on the open- ogy may have also cost Mike Hussey his ing day of the first Test on Monday and career,” it said. Ponting fired a subtle shot at the Indian Under the headline ‘Controversial Cricket Board on its refusal to use the dismissals leave India with the momen- controversial technology. tum’, ‘The Age’ reported that “Australia’s “I thought that was the way it was grit to fight itself into the ascendant when it first came in, that it was compul- position on the opening day of the Test sory in every series we played, but appar- was brought unstuck by two controver- ently not,” Ponting said. sial decisions that halted the home team “It’s just this one series against India and left India finishing the day with a it keeps popping up we are not using this sense of having if not won the day then system. As players you want uniformity Ricky Ponting at least having salvaged the momentum.” around the world (Agencies) and you want con- sistency in the tech- nology ... that’s all we are after,” he told ABC radio. Chappell digs in Ponting has been under fire for some time with calls for retirement fol- lowing his pro- longed slump in form, but after his aggressive 62 in Australia’s first innings against India on the open- ing day of the first Test on Monday, he vowed to fight on, saying he still has hunger and desire to succeed. “I have always been a big believer Greg Chappell that age in this game doesn’t mean MELBOURNE: Former Team India much. I still have coach Greg Chappell on Monday backed the hunger and Australian opener Ed Cowan’s call for desire and I am having compulsory DRS in all interna- working as hard as I tional matches, saying it will reduce the ever have,” said pressure on umpires and reduce the Ponting, who howlers. turned 37 last week. “There is no question, DRS has to be He said like any implemented uniformly to help cut down other cricketer he on umpiring errors,” Chappell told Fox took inspiration Sports. from players older Chappell, whose two-year stint with than him, such as the Indian team ended on an acrimonious Sachin Tendulkar. note, said he could fully understand why “I think they Indian players were against the use of should inspire DRS. everyone,” he said. “They probably reckon that batsmen Ponting, though, tend to benefit from close decisions,” was disappointed Chappell opined, blaming ‘BCCI politics not to convert and money power’ for the non-implemen- another half-centu- tation of the DRS across the cricket ry into a hundred. world. “It was disap- Chappell, however, agreed that the pointing not to go technology used in DRS was not foolproof. on yesterday to get “The problem is that the technology a big score. That’s used is not perfect, but then nothing in three of the last five the world is. You will still have a few innings I passed 50 errors, but the idea is to eliminate the that that is the howlers,” Chappell said. game: it happens. Having said that, Chappell opined My balance was a that the decisions made by the umpires whole lot better yes- against Mike Hussey and Ed Cowan on terday,” he said. Monday didn’t qualify as howlers. “When you look at the real-time images, you defi- nitely get the impression that Hussey was out. Only when you look at the slow- motion replays do you realise that he had not nicked it. “In Cowan’s case too, the umpire must have heard a noise which may have prompted him to give the batsman out,” Chappell added.

(The Times of India)