28 November, 2009
Australia's crushing victory over the West Indies in the opening Test at the Gabba had the opposing captains in agreement on many issues, but the ICC's decision review system (DRS) was the one sticking point that saw Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle take opposite sides of the fence.
The DRS, in use for the first time in Australia after its full implementation by the ICC, has proven to be the major talking point of the first Test - apart from the Windies' underwhelming performance in the one-sided fixture.
Players from both camps have generally praised the DRS which allows each side two unsuccessful reviews per innings.
That trend stopped abruptly on Saturday when Gayle renewed his criticism of the DRS.
"As I've said before, I'm not a big fan of it," Gayle said.
"I need your (the media's) help, hopefully you can change it for me."
"Maybe you guys can help me? I can't say too much."
However when pressed, Gayle did advance on the reasons behind his frustrations.
"The technology is always there, but sometimes mistakes are still made even with the technology, that's why I'm not a big fan of it," he said.
"We might as well just go with the two umpires in the middle and leave it as is, whether they get it wrong or right."
Ponting, an ardent supporter of the DRS, was in complete disagreement with Gayle's analysis about the potential for oversights.
"It's always going to be good for the game, whether or not everyone is right is irrelevant," Ponting said.
"We end up getting more correct decisions made in the game - once again I think we used ours pretty well, they probably referred a couple that were wrong."
"I think the umpires did a great job themselves and the referral system worked well as well."
Ponting backed the system, even given the case in his side's first innings when third umpire Mark Benson did not overturn a decision despite replays being quite supportive of Mitchell Johnson's claim that he did not produce an edge.
"It was probably inconclusive on the replays if it was out or not out, but you stick with the decision because that's the way it would have been without the system anyway," he said.
"I think right through the course of this game it's worked really well and I've been a big supporter of it since we used it in South Africa the first time around, which was a long time ago."
"Out of that series it was proven that there were probably an extra 20-odd correct decisions made in the series, so that can only be a good thing for the game."
There has been much discussion over how best to take advantage of the DRS.
With the power to challenge the umpire's raised finger resting with the batsman out in the middle as opposed to the team, some in the media have questioned whether challenges made by Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the first innings were emotional more than anything else.
Gayle was unapologetic for asking for a review in both innings, despite Benson confirming on both occasions that he was indeed trapped lbw by Ben Hilfenhaus.
"It's there to use, so why not give it a chance? It's one of those things where it doesn't matter what I think ... the umpire's decision still stands."
"We have to deal with it, it's there, so we just have to use it. Hopefully it can go in our favour (next Test) - that would be nice."