Calls made for radical Test match changes as England left bemused AGAIN by decision in India

Calls are being made for specialist TV umpires to be brought into cricket, after England were left bemused by third umpire Joel Wilson’s decision making in the fourth Test, with former England fast bowler Steve Harmison asking ‘what on earth is he watching?’

With India requiring a further 132 runs for victory and England needing 10 wickets, Tom Hartley struck Yashasvi Jaiswal on the pad and reviewed the on-field not out decision. 

Jaiswal had advanced a long way down the wicket, with there being doubt over whether the ball would go on to hit the stumps, but TV umpire Wilson ruled that Jaiswal had got a thin edge on the ball before ball-tracking was needed, much to the confusion of those watching. 

“Where’s that audio-wave from?” Asked talkSPORT 2 commentator Andrew McKenna as the ball passed near the bat. 

“It’s the bat on the bottom of the pad,” Harmison replied. “It’s the bat on the bottom of the pad. Please don’t tell me Joel you’re going to say he’s hit this.”

Moments later, Wilson ruled Jaiswal to be not out as ‘there’s an inside edge’.

“No there’s not!” said Harmison. “You’re kidding. There’s a gap between bat and ball, the bat has hit the bottom of the pad you can see that. What on earth is he watching?

“The cameras are going on Joel Wilson, he’s laughing, he’s smiling. You’ve got that one wrong, you’ve got that one horribly wrong. It wouldn’t have been given out but you’ve not gone through the full process properly.”

It is not the first time this Test match that Joel Wilson’s decision making has come under scrutiny, with Joe Root the beneficiary of a similar decision in the first-innings.  

“We need specialist third umpires,” said talkSPORT pundit Jarrod Kimber. “I’ve said this about a thousand times in the last five years. A specialist third umpire would know what to look for in that situation.

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“If you’re a professional umpire, you have spent all your life standing behind the stumps making decisions. Completely different to what third umpiring is. And then once every three games you have to sit in a booth, use technology and understand what you’re looking for. 

“I’m not saying don’t pick the third umpires from the umpire pool, but what I am saying is that it’s a different set of skills that is being used. It should be someone who is doing it every single game, understands how it works, understands the technology and works with these people correctly. 

“I just don’t think we should have people who can’t even operate their own hotmail accounts making decisions on technology.” 

India went on to chase down the runs with five wickets left to go 3-1 up and take the series.

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