Swann on song

Graeme Swann is very much likely to end 2009 as the second-highest wicket-taker. What has clicked for him this year? His variations, his perseverance, the proliferation of left-handers in international cricket and most interestingly, UDRS, writes Simon Hughes in the Daily Telegraph.

His most important ally, however, is off the field. It is not a human either. It is Hawk-Eye. The increasing acceptance of the ball-tracking system is inducing umpires to give more batsmen out lbw. In fact, this decade is the first in the history of Test cricket when more batsmen have been dismissed lbw than bowled. Hawk-Eye first appeared on TV screens in 2001.

The main beneficiaries have been spinners. At the beginning of the decade, batsmen "kicked" spinners' best deliveries away with impunity, confident that no umpire would have the temerity to give them out if their bat and pad were close together. Hawk-Eye has consistently shown many of these balls to be hitting the wicket and therefore lbw candidates.

Vic Marks, in the Observer, agrees with Hughes, saying that the review system has benefited spinners more than anyone else and that decisions that would never have gone in their favour some years prior are now doing so.

Makhaya Ntini began the series amid accolades for playing his 100th Test but his performance with the ball in the first Test and his three overs for 25 on the second day in Durban indicate his bowling prowess is on the decline, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

He bowled well enough in the early stages of England’s first innings of the first Test — just about. His opening burst was lively enough, livelier than we had been led to believe it might be, but his later spells lacked the energy of old and it was obvious that Smith was having to nurse him.

Ntini is also the subject of Nasser Hussain's attention in his daily dossier in the Daily Mail. He says South Africa will have to think long and hard before they leave Friedel de Wet out of the third Test.

England made better use of the UDRS on the second day in Durban than they did in Centurion but the system still has its loopholes, writes Geoffrey Dean in the Times. He says tail-enders, especially, can abuse the system when a team still has referrals remaining.