Viewers left asking if DRS needs serious review of its own after more blunders
A fine day of Test cricket at the MCG was blighted by another poor outing for the decision review system, and it left Australian captain Tim Paine angry and disappointed.
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Update: “Angry’ captain Tim Paine says he has lost faith in cricket’s Decision Review System after several staggering rulings left the Aussies bewildered on Friday night.
Paine told Ross Taylor he was “dead-out plumb” and that he must “know the bloke in the truck” after the New Zealand batsman had James Pattinson’s lbw shout overturned in the final session.
Paine – who is statistically the worst reviewer in world cricket – was denied a crack at a maiden Test century when he was given out lbw, despite the ball appearing to strike him outside the line of off stump.
“I’ve got a few doubts (about the technology) – no doubt about that,” Paine said on Friday night.
“I won’t go into it too far because I’ll get in trouble. I’m just seeing time and time again what I see to the naked eye, or watching it on television in real time, and then what it comes up as, is sometimes a little bit off the mark.
“We’re struggling a little bit with it.”
Taylor would’ve been on his way for one run on Friday but the Aussies were furious that ball tracking showed Pattinson’s full delivery going over the stumps.
Paine was on 79 and playing beautifully when Kiwis captain Kane Williamson overturned Neil Wagner’s unsuccessful lbw shout.
“I would’ve liked it to have been outside the line. I thought from the length that it pitched, and the bloke bowling around the wicket, it’s pretty difficult to hit you in line, and hit the stumps,” Paine said on ABC Grandstand.
“I think it pitched around 7m and still hit halfway up. Then you get one late tonight (Taylor) where the guy’s stuck on the crease, he’s hit really full and it’s going over.
“It’s disappointing and it makes me angry.”
Fox Cricket’s Mike Hussey told the Herald Sun that “to the naked eye I felt it hit (Paine) outside the line” – but Hussey was happy to back the technology.
Centurion Travis Head survived a shout on 104, despite ball tracker showing it would’ve hit the stumps, because it remained umpire’s call.
“We felt like we probably had Ross (Taylor) out and it wasn’t, so we get on with it and carry on,” Head said.
“Some days it’ll go your way and some way it won’t.”
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David Warner was so desperate to bat on Boxing Day that he refused to get an X-ray on his sore left thumb.
Warner was struck in the MCG nets on Monday and, while Cricket Australia was quick to dismiss concerns that the devastating opener could miss the Test, Warner was left sore and bothered.
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But coach Justin Langer has hung a photo of Albert Jacka in the Aussies' dressing room and the World War I hero has become “a symbol” for the team.
Warner didn’t want a scan because it would’ve left him in doubt for the biggest Test match on the calendar. Asked if Warner could require a painkilling injection, Langer quipped that Albert Jacka never needed a jab.
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Banned cricketer Emily Smith hasn’t lost her sense of humour.
The Hobart Hurricanes wicket-keeper deserved more traction for her funny reply to Alyssa Healy’s tweet.
Same
— Emily Smith (@emsmit33) December 25, 2019
Healy signed off a Merry Christmas post with: “Ps about 89.5% of things I say on here are a joke. Take them as such. Have a laugh”. Smith – who is serving a suspension for a social media prank gone wrong, after she posted Hobart’s line-up on Instagram last month – replied: “Same”.
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It was hats off to Neil Wagner’s banter with the MCG crowd … and wigs on.
The spirited bowler jogged over to a bay of Kiwi fans singing a song about him, and put on a bright blonde wig they tossed his way.
The song was a belter … Michael Buble’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ only replaced with ‘Wagner Wonderland’.
Then there was the Kiwi who jetted across the ditch decked out in a full New Zealand playing kit, including a helmet. The Black Cap fans haven’t had much to cheer about on the field, but that hasn’t stopped them having a ball in the stands.
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The MCG has been busy trumpeting that Boxing Day is the equivalent of two AFL Grand Finals across five days.
Well, New Zealand’s first Test at the MCG in 32 years is actually proving to be a whole lot bigger than that.
The first three days are set to just about match a pair of premiership deciders with about 180,000 fans set to click through the turnstiles.
There were 80,473 on Boxing Day, which was the highest non-Ashes crowd in almost 50 years, and then there were 59,676 on Friday, which was the highest non-Ashes day two crowd for a Boxing Day Test ever.
That means just 40,000 are needed on Saturday to surpass 180,000 in three days.
It’s been a similar boom on television with metropolitan viewership close to four million across Seven and Fox Cricket. You can see why Cricket Australia wants to lock the iconic match into Melbourne until hell freezes over.
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Mitchell Starc had sent down just 10 deliveries with the new ball when it was changed.
The reason? The fresh cherry became damaged as it bounced into Fox Cricket’s roving camera outside the rope.
Starc’s delivery zoomed over keeper Tim Paine for four byes, and it took just two balls for the replacement to be tracked at a sizzling 150.5km.
The frightening speeds didn’t stop the umpires from watching Starc’s footmarks. While New Zealand sent down 931 deliveries without being called for overstepping once, Starc’s very first delivery was deemed a front-foot no-ball.
Originally published as Viewers left asking if DRS needs serious review of its own after more blunders