Stop this nonsense!

Stop it, ICC! Immediately. ICC or whoever it is that controls world cricket at the moment, that is. Stop what is happening to cricket in the name of technology. Stop it before cricket becomes a laughing stock in the world of sport for being the tail that wagged the dog.

Why all the bile, you ask? Anybody who saw Andrew Strauss declared 'out' on an LBW appeal today in the 3rd Test between England and South Africa will understand. Let me walk people through the moment - or at least those of you who did not have the misfortune of watching this live. Wayne Parnell - arguably the best young fast bowler that the cricket world has seen in a long, long time (not to mention that he is left handed) charged in and bowled an indipper at a good length at Strauss. Andrew Strauss played all over that ball which struck him high on the flap of his right pad. Initial impression of yours truly - NOT OUT (Ball was going above the stumps. Too much doubt involved.) What played out on TV was slightly different. Umpire Tony Hill wasted no time in declaring Strauss out, leading to the English captain bring his bat down horizontally on his glove covered index finger in the universal symbol of 'Time out'. Time for a referral - Hawkeye style.

Predictably, Hawkeye has the ball pitching just outside the line of the stumps, hitting the batsman in line at around the flaps region of the pad and the ball kissing the top of the bail resting on the middle stump. Astoundingly, the 3rd umpire, Daryl Harper if any of you were breathlessly waiting to know, upheld the decision. What does that mean? That reasonable doubt, a concept that has been the tradition, conscience, common sense and driving force of cricket decision making for ages is now headed to the garbage heap? And does that also mean that the ICC asserts that Hawkeye is accurate down to the millimetres and even less? Where is it going to stop? While on the run, let me pose the ICC or whoever it is that seems to mysteriously make all these decisions, another question. What if Tony Hill's original decision had been 'not out'? Would Daryl Harper still have given Strauss out considering the evidence shown by Hawkeye? If the answer is 'yes', where does this take cricket?