B y Ken Borland
JOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) – Graeme Smith is
comfortable with television referrals and the umpire decision
review system (DRS) playing a larger role in international
cricket, the South Africa captain said on Wednesday.
South Africa’s recent series in New Zealand was marred by
criticism of the DRS, with the ball-tracking, hot-spot and
Snicko components coming up with results seemingly at odds with
what was seen live.
England, meanwhile, have been struggling to adapt to the
system in tests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, their crease-
bound batsmen falling to record numbers of lbw decisions via
DRS.
“I did read a report that there were issues with the set-up
of the cameras, which obviously isn’t ideal, and there has been
a lot of skepticism about the last bit of the ball-tracking,”
Smith told a news conference.
“But DRS has become an integral part of the game, it’s great
for the fans and I can’t imagine playing without it.
“It was designed to take away the shocking decision and it’s
done that. I’d like to see it play a prominent part in
international cricket,” Smith added.
South Africa won the T20 and one-day sections of their tour
to New Zealand, before dominating the test series but being
restricted to a 1-0 win due to bad weather and are confident
ahead of tough tours of England and Australia.
“I definitely think we can beat both England and Australia
away. We have a lot of the same players who did it in 2008-09,
but we have an extra edge now in terms of the way we think about
the way we play and train, plus there’s the addition of players
like Vernon Philander, Marchant de Lange and Lopsy Tsotsobe,”
Smith said.
Continued…
