Roach decision will set a precedent for controversial umpire referral system

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting and his West Indies counterpart Chris Gayle have agreed that the use of the controversial umpire referral system by fast bowler Kemar Roach after his dismissal in third Test in Perth will set a precedent.

Roach was judged caught behind off Australian fast bowler Doug Bollinger by on-field umpire Billy Bowden, and he requested for a review of the decision, which was accepted and referred to third umpire Asad Rauf.

The third umpire, when reviewing the decision, used a range of technologies that were available to him, including the slow-motion replays, amplified stump microphone sound (at normal speed and slow motion), approved ball-tracking technology, pitch mat generated by the ball-tracking technology and Hot Spot footage, but they were all inconclusive.

While, the Hot Spot was not visible on the bat during the review, the stump microphone picked up the noise of the ball hitting the bat, which was sufficient for Asad to recommend to Billy to uphold his earlier decision, as has been the norm.

Ponting said that West Indies still had two challenges left and one wicket in hand needing a further 35 runs for victory in the match and had the situation been reversed, he would have done the same.

“They've got two up their sleeve, they're nine wickets down and they need 30-odd to win, and it was a really faint edge. Anyone would've used it in that situation. I'm not sure if they had a talk about it. You've been given out, but you've got to use whatever you can,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting, as saying.

“If that was us, we probably would have done the same thing. It's just whatever the batsman feels at the time. It's probably not why it was brought in, but you've got two chances to use reviews and they decided to use one of theirs then,” he added.

Gayle, who has regularly criticised the system, said that Roach must have felt there was some doubt about the edge.

“It's still complicated. It's going to be their call, they can refer all they want, but, at the end of the day, it's the third umpire who makes the call,” Gayle said.

“It's very complicated … it was a tough call. It seems like it will be a difficult one when it comes to caught behind. I don't know if they use a Snickometer, but it looked difficult on telly, when they do get an edge it's a tough call,” he added.