KEY POINTS:
It should be manna from heaven for a bowler often perplexed when his legitimate appeals are turned down, but New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has sounded a note of caution about the International Cricket Council's umpiring referral system.
Vettori's circumspect appraisal of a trial that allows contentious decisions to be assessed by the third umpire seems unusual, given the New Zealand captain was a prime beneficiary during the fourth day of the first test against the West Indies at University Oval here yesterday.
The spinner took six for 56 in the West Indies first innings of 340, though on another afternoon he would have been denied the wicket of Xavier Marshall.
The batsman initially survived after he was caught in close by Jesse Ryder but Vettori had no hesitation in demanding Indian umpire Amiesh Saheba seek a second opinion from third umpire Rudi Koertzen, who detected the ball deflecting off the shoulder of Marshall's bat.
Although pleased justice was done, Vettori was concerned the powers of the on-field umpire were being diluted.
Vettori's best haul of 2008 - and one which enabled him to secure 50 scalps for the first time in a calendar year since his 88-test career started in 1997 - also included the wicket of Denesh Ramdin, who unsuccessfully challenged his dismissal after Saheba gave him out leg before wicket.
Ramdin took his chances believing the ball may have been drifting down the leg side, but after a five minute deliberation Koertzen endorsed Saheba's original ruling.
The deliberation over that decision did not sit so well with Vettori, although he was the benefactor.
"What's happening a little bit is the 50-50 ones are coming into play and I don't think that's what it was invented for."
He also cited the leg before wicket dismissal of Daniel Flynn for 95 on Thursday after Saheba initially gave him not out.
"If you look at it (the replay), you can see it's out but is that the reason it was brought in.... to decide on such a fine line decision?
"The premise of cricket is the batsman always gets the benefit of the doubt and I think you want to still keep that part of the game in," Vettori said.
"It's when you nick it onto your pad and you're given out lbw or you nick it behind and you're given not out - those are the one's we want to get out of the game as opposed to the good umpiring decisions."
This is the second series the referral system has been employed following on from India's visit to Sri Lanka in July-August.
Flynn and Kyle Mills have been both dismissed leg before wicket after initially being given the benefit of the doubt by Saheba, standing in his first test.
Mills also had an lbw appeal turned down by Saheba - and then Koertzen - on Saturday, while yesterday Vettori snared Marshall while the Ramdin decision stood although replays suggested there was some doubt about whether the ball would strike leg stump.
"I think there's probably a little bit of fine tuning needed," Vettori said.
"In the end it's the obvious ones you want fixed by the third umpire."
Vettori said the referral system had been an obvious discussion point in the New Zealand dressing room.
"Some of us have talked about having only one referral an innings so you know it's out when you ask for it," he said.
That would be less time consuming and remove the prospect of teams trying their luck when a batsman was not out.
Under the current system, teams can make three unsuccessful challenges per innings. In Dunedin neither team exhausted their allocation.
Meanwhile, the test could be evenly poised if the weather behaves itself later today.
New Zealand resume at 44 for two, an overall lead of 69 with three sessions to play, providing forecast rain does not eventuate.
Tim McIntosh (24) and Flynn (4) are the batsmen initially tasked with ensuring New Zealand at least bat past lunch to make the game safe.
Jerome Taylor's classy 106 - his maiden test and first class century - enabled the West Indies to claw back into the rain-affected contest before Vettori completed his 18th five-wicket in test cricket.
He has taken 50 wickets at 24.98, his best ever return in a calendar year with three possible innings still to bowl. Vettori is the fourth bowler to reach the milestone this year alongside Australian quicks Mitchell Johnson (50), Brett Lee (56), South African paceman Dale Steyn (60) and Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh (59).
- NZPA
