Gayle seeks to force the pace after referral system applies the brakes

For a brief, bewildering period yesterday, Test cricket went crazy again. It does this occasionally, a dignified, sprightly old codger who should know better acting like an out of control teenager. The little local difficulty this time – of its own making, of course – was the system of reviewing umpiring decisions. It follows, of recent vintage, ball tampering disputes and rows between players involving alleged racial slurs. Test cricket may be struggling to survive in an ever-changing world but it sure knows how to shout for attention.

Within 14 overs on the second day of the first Test, five reviews of decisions by umpires were requested either by batsmen or bowlers. While they had a sense of theatre of their own, the reviews not only dominated the game but delayed and slightly demeaned it. They also left the suspicion that despite technology the appeal verdicts are still not conclusive. Cricket is like that and until the three dimensional replay reality slow motion camera is invented it should remain so.

The logical extension of this regulation is to have a court of appeal sitting at every Test match, consisting of High Court justices from every Test playing country with one neutral. As Matt Prior, England's wicketkeeper put it: "Cricket is changing so much, who knows what's going to happen." Two of the reviews were potentially match-changing, which is as it should be if justice is to be done. But justice in sport has to mean common sense, respect and adhering to the spirit of proceedings.

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The interruptions diminished another captivating day on which it began to emerge that these sides are much more evenly matched than either might have thought. Neither will prevail easily and neither will go quietly. However, it would be helpful to all concerned – players, spectators, officials, administrators and a little thing called the game itself – if the batsmen would go at all.

The third umpire, Daryl Harper was busier than the Bank of England's interest rate committee. The reviews did not quite overshadow Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain and unofficially the coolest man in cricket, who made a half century notable for its judgement. Nor did they curb Ramnaresh Sarwan, twice the beneficiary after reviews, who seemed to gain strength as a result. Gayle recognised that the pitch demanded caution but he was not slow to impose himself as he demonstrated by clubbing Andrew Flintoff's second ball, the eight of the innings, for six. It was a declaration of intent not for an innings, or for a match, but for a series.

A player who did not impose himself as West Indies established a formidable base of 160 for one was Monty Panesar, on whose shoulders much rested on a turning pitch. He had control but little authority and no umpire, on field or off, could have done much to help.

This is the third series in which the review system has been used. In the previous two, between Sri Lanka and India and New Zealand and West Indies, each side was allowed to ask for three decisions in each innings to be reviewed. For this series the number has been reduced by the ICC to two. It did nothing to dampen the ardour of the players on the second day and considering that all of them had expressed a mild distaste for the trial they were astonishingly willing to participate.

The idiocy – though it did not seem so at the time – began when both Stephen Harmison and Panesar asked for reviews of the leg before verdicts against them at the end of the England innings. This seemed entirely harmless. England had their two referrals still intact – if the review is upheld you keep the number you had before requesting it – and while the system was hardly introduced to protect the wickets of tail-end Charlies they had nothing to lose. Both were out.

Then matters became quite potty. In Flintoff's third over, Tony Hill, a late replacement as an umpire in this match, turned down Flintoff's appeal for lbw against Devon Smith. Flintoff caught the eye of captain Andrew Strauss and they invoked a review. Within a couple of minutes, Smith, having been given not out, was out.

Flintoff must then have assumed he was on a roll because in his next over he asked for a review after hitting Sarwan on the pad. The trouble was that the ball pitched outside leg stump and was missing the stumps as well. That was one of England's two reviews gone.

Next it was the batsman's turn to lodge an objection. Sarwan was beaten by Harmison and adjudged lbw, reasonably it seemed. But the decision went for review, height might have induced doubt and after a long delay the umpire, hapless Hill again, put both arms across his shoulders to indicate that he was changing his decision and waved both hands across his waist to show that Sarwan was not, after all, out. By now Hill, standing in his eighth Test in as many years, must have felt that he was a target.

England will have felt disappointed as the day went on. It started badly for them when Flintoff was out in the third over without adding to his overnight score. In its way, his errant cut to point, undermined all the good sense of the previous day. His annoyance was obvious.

Matt Prior is a Test match number seven even if he is not yet a Test match wicketkeeper and he duly passed fifty for the seventh time. Like many of his colleagues, he was guilty of giving it away when he got underneath a drive and gave Sulieman Benn a return catch. The tail still stuck around and a total of 318 made in 122.3 painstaking overs seemed reasonable reward.

Gayle, who made 197 against New Zealand last month, decided to adopt different tactics and Sarwan, short of runs, was not far behind him. In the evening the second wicket partnership reached 142, England were already running out of ideas. There was nothing to review in sight.

Shot of the day

It was that stage when batsmen are merely trying to see off the new ball. Andrew Flintoff came in for his second ball, the second over of the innings – and whack. Chris Gayle waited for it and with a short backlift effortlessly drove him over long on for six. Quite breathtaking.

Ball of the day

Referrals are big stuff at present. The moment when Andrew Flintoff decided that he was not happy with umpire Tony Hill's decision to turn down his lbw appeal against Devon Smith was historic in English cricket. Replays showed the ball had pitched in line, the decision was reversed and Smith was on his way.

Moment of the day

Test cricket needs light relief (other than the Barmy Army murdering "Jerusalem") and Stephen Harmison provided it when his thigh pad strap broke. He cavorted shamelessly with his trousers down while waiting for a replacement, showing what cricketers wear underneath their flannels.

Sabina Park Scoreboard

Second day of five; England won toss

England – First Innings (Overnight: 236 for 5)

*A J Strauss c Ramdin b Taylor 7

19 min, 15 balls, 1 four

A N Cook c Sarwan b Powell 4

46 min, 20 balls

I R Bell c Smith b Gayle 28

96 min, 72 balls, 3 fours

K P Pietersen c Ramdin b Benn 97

206 min, 172 balls, 12 fours, 1 six

P D Collingwood lbw b Benn 16

46 min, 61 balls

A Flintoff c Nash b Powell 43

201 min, 146 balls, 3 fours

†M J Prior c and b Benn 64

181 min, 109 balls, 7 fours

S C J Broad c Benn b Taylor 4

23 min, 18 balls

R J Sidebottom not out 26

108 min, 72 balls, 3 fours

S J Harmison lbw b Taylor (batting referral upheld) 7

54 min, 53 balls

M S Panesar lbw b Benn (batting referral denied) 0

7 min, 3 balls

Extras (b7 lb8 nb7) 22

Total (498 min, 122.2 overs) 318

Fall: 1-8 (Strauss) 2-31 (Cook) 3-71 (Bell) 4-94 (Collingwood) 5-180 (Pietersen) 6-241 (Flintoff) 7-256 (Broad) 8-288 (Prior) 9-313 (Harmison) 10-318 (Panesar).

Bowling: Taylor 20-4-74-3 (nb3) (5-1-21-1, 2-0-10-0, 6-1-25-0, 6-2-14-1, 1-0-4-1); Edwards 14-1-58-0 (nb3) (3-1-9-0, 2-0-9-0, 3-0-17-0, 2-0-8-0, 4-0-15-0); Powell 20-5-54-2 (nb1) (6-3-8-1, 4-1-16-0, 4-1-7-0, 6-0-23-1); Benn 44.2-13-77-4 (33-10-64-2, 1-0-1-0, 10.2-3-12-2); Gayle 24-9-40-1 (12-2-24-1, 1-1-0-0, 3-0-11-0, 2-2-0-0, 6-4-5-0).

Progress: Second day (min 91 overs): new ball taken after 89 overs at 237-5. 250: 380 min, 93.2 overs. 300: 453 min, 108.5 overs. Lunch: 311-8 (Sidebottom 20, Harmison 7) 117 overs. Innings closed: 1.01pm.

Pietersen's 50: 148 min, 115 balls, 6 fours. Prior's 50: 150 min, 84 balls, 5 fours.

West Indies – First Innings

*C H Gayle not out 69

120 balls, 3 fours 3 sixes

D S Smith lbw b Flintoff (bowling referral upheld) 6

28 mins, 22 balls

R R Sarwan not out 71

182 balls, 6 fours

Extras (b6 lb3) 9

Total (for 1, 54 overs) 160

Fall: 1-18 (Smith).

To bat: X M Marshall, S Chanderpaul, B P Nash, †D Ramdin, J E Taylor, D B L Powell, S J Benn, F H Edwards.

Bowling: Sidebottom 9-2-12-0 (5-1-7-0 4-1-5-0), Flintoff 11-4-24-1 (4-0-20-1 4-3-1-0 3-1-3-0), Harmison 7-0-20-0 (3-0-12-0 4-0-8-0), Broad 8-1-36-0 (4-0-22-0 4-1-14-0), Panesar 15-4-44-0 (12-3-40-1 3-1-4-0), Pietersen 4-1-15-0 (one spell).

Progress: Second day: 50 in 75 mins, 14 overs. Tea 63-1 (Gayle 33, Sarwan 22) 17 overs. 100 in 144 mins, 31.2 overs. 150 in 200 mins, 45.5 overs.

Umpires: A L Hill (NZ) and R E Koertzen (SA).

TV replay umpire: D J Harper (Aus).

Match referee: A G Hurst (Aus).

5

The number of referrals to the third umpire in the space of 14 overs in the first Test at Sabina Park yesterday