Reviews in Test Match Cricket

The one thing that has been talked about a lot lately is whether or not the review system in Test Match Cricket is working or not. If you have watched any of the Test Matches going on at the moment then you may have seen a player make a T-sign with their arms to signal that they would like to have a closer look at whether the umpire made the correct call or not.

Any occasion where someone has been given out can be challenged such as instances where there is a catch behind that the umpire thinks he hasn't hit it or there is an LBW that is close then the captain of the fielding team or the batsmen that has been given out has a choice at using a review. However you only have 2 Reviews and everytime you review an incident and get it wrong then you lose a Review.

We've seen it used lately in both the South Africa vs England and Australia vs Pakistan series and it seems to be working. There aren't any mistakes being made now and even though it holds the game up for 90 seconds or a couple of minutes it does seem to be eradicating the mistakes that have creeped into the game lately and without a doubt the umpires now have the back up to make sure that no mistakes are made.

The only drawback as of late is the fact that in Australia they have had full use of technology including "snicko" and "hotspot" meaning that they have the best technology for dealing with catches that are unsure and can be clarified using this technology whereas the series in South Africa has not got that technology so it has been pointless using reviews for any instance of a catch.

This is still being trialled and will eventually be rolled out to every test match playing nation throughout the sport. I believe that as we progress through the next couple of years we should be able to get rid of most mistakes that happen in the game and hopefully get a game where the major blunders and bad decisions are got rid of.