Arthur Turner

The referral system employed for the current South Africa v Australia Test series does not feel right to me from a cricket point of view.

To see the umpire’s decision - and the reaction of 25 000 fans - be over turned by a referral negates the excitement and expectation of the game. Maybe one gets this feeling because it is a new concept and with time it will hopefully naturalise itself like the TMO in rugby.

The current system that has been used by the International Cricket Council has some very serious shortcomings that they will have to address. If the referral system is to work they need to employ technology and let the third umpire make the decision based on what technology shows him.

The third umpire acting as a consultant and feeding the on-field umpire certain pieces of information based on what he sees and then letting him review his decision makes no sense. This method further complicates the situation and can further embarrass the umpires.

Once a referral has been made the decision must be taken out of the on-field umpires' hands and be left to the sole discretion of the third umpire. His decision must be based solely on technology and have no human influence if the system is to work.

The third umpire must have available to him all the aspects of technology that have been developed like hotspot, snicko, the pitch mat and hawk-eye. He needs to base his 'caught behind' decisions on snicko and hotspot, his lbw decisions on hawk-eye and the pitch mat for example.

The excuse that that technology is not always foolproof must be dispelled once and for all.  If the ICC wants to make use of technology they must go all the way with it, if not, rather abandon it. This quasi approach will not work and is only complicating matters further.

Another concern is the amount of time wasting that the current referral system results in. The whole game comes to a standstill for what seems an eternity while the third umpire looks at the visuals and communicates with the on-field umpire. If decisions were left in the hands of the third umpire and technology it will undoubtedly speed up the referrals.

The game has become subject to too many hold ups because of technology and the ICC needs to take measures to speed up the game by adjusting certain laws. The most obvious is the boundary decisions. The rule should be changed that if the ball does not make contact with the boundary rope it is not a four even if the fielder has done so. This would certainly speed up the game and also reward good fielding.

Also, on referrals the rule should be that if the third umpire can't make a decision within a certain time frame, the benefit should go to the batsman, like the rules of cricket state.

The ICC must be careful that it does not get bogged down by trying to perfect the role of the umpire and find a pragmatic balance between technology and the game; we do not live in a perfect world. It is crucial that time wasting is minimised and the expectation and emotional aspects of the game are protected.

Arthur is a former cricket administrator and current player agent.

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