Flashpoint: England's players react to the Smith referral decision
During the third Test South Africa accused England, albeit unofficially, of ball tampering.
This morning, in the fourth Test, Graeme Smith edged Ryan Sidebottom to Matt Prior and the South Africa captain knew it. However, he escaped after an unforgivable error during the umpire referral. Daryl Harper, the man who the decision fell to, did not have enough sound on the footage and he missed a clear edge which was audible to the millions of TV viewers across the globe. If he had turned up the sound he would have come to the right decision and given Smith his marching orders.
As it was, he did not and, after the error which led to Alastair Cook's dismissal from a no-ball on day one, yet again the review system comes under the spotlight. Why implement it if it cannot come to correct decisions? It is pointless. Whats more, the South African broadcaster has failed to stump up the cash to implement the use of technology such as Snicko and Hotspot. It is a shambles.
Even without all the technology, Harper's mistakes were avoidable. It seems, even when technology is in use human error can come into play.
Smith could have aided the umpires by walking, however not every cricketer can be an Adam Gilchrist and given the bad blood between the sides in this series did we expect anything else?
The state of the game in Johannesburg is dire for England, they look set for defeat with the South Africans just two wickets down now and also leading. But, as I mentioned yesterday, the weather could yet help them escape from the contest with a draw.
To do that they must bat well in their second innings and also hope there are more storms of biblical proportions as there was at the Wanderers today. Local forecasts do predict more of the same tomorrow afternoon so there is some hope for Andrew Strauss' men.
Tomorrow will see the grand old ground packed for the first time during this Test and the atmosphere should be fantastic. Let's hope England can rise to the occasion.
Last night I went to the Pirates club in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosebank, where Matthew Hoggard used to play. The former England and Yorkshire swing bowler had a question and answer session and he was good value. After a few beers, Hoggy was frank and open with his inquisitors.
Not much new came out but his scathing assesmedent of former coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain were eye opening. He admitted to not getting on with either and also bit off more than he could chew when he asked the Barmy Army presence at the event to sing him a song at the end of the night. Twenty minutes and 15 verses later poor Hoggy looked at though he wanted the ground to swallow him up. Credit to him though, he then said: "That's why they're the best fans in the world."
Another fan had a chance encounter with Ryan Sidebottom during the warm-up on the first morning. Wishing Sidey well, the mop-haired swinger came over to him and admitted how nervous he was to return to the side. After a pep-talk Sidey was suitably motivated and he was Enbgland's best bowler today - dismissing Smith twice.