Cricket and football need to embrace review system

James Lawton makes a case for cricket and football, sports that often haven't gone hand in hand, to embrace the review system, despite the glitches, to rid the games of the "worst examples of failed justice." Read his article in the Independent .

Siddhartha Talya

25-Feb-2013

Yet Strauss admits that the system is almost certainly part of the future and that he, along with everyone in cricket, has to work both to understand it and show it in its best light.

It would be wrong to suggest this is the overwhelming view in cricket. One of the most persistent complaints – and no doubt it would be redoubled in football – is that the process is guaranteed to break the flow of the game. One experienced observer at Centurion says: "It just feels wrong. Fans celebrate the fall of an opposition wicket one minute, then the next they are cast down. Better to let the breaks come as they may, and just get on with it."

But can this really be a viable view at the end of the first decade of the 21st century? If sport is worth any kind of trouble, should we not endeavour to get it right when a wicket or a goal is illegitimately claimed?

Nasser Hussain criticises Stuart Broad in the Daily Mail for challenging the umpires' authority following his dismissal on the third day. However, he agrees that the umpires gave South Africa too much time to call for a review, and that is an issue that ought to be addressed.

If yesterday's incident was a one-off then it wouldn't be too much of a problem but this is far from the first time that Broad has shown stroppiness towards officials, and if he carries on it is going to lead to umpires turning down his appeals and generally having a downer on him.

Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo