I'm in favour of replays, the problem with referrals is the ICC unwisely made it more like a tactic to be employed by the teams. The biggest problem is the players use it because they think or hope someone is out, not because they KNOW they are.
But why make it down to the players at all?!?!? Surely the point is to get decisions right, and with referrals limited and frittered away, you still get bad decisions.
The solution is simple, the third umpire watches a replay while the bowler moves back to his mark. If he sees anything to suggest it needs reviewing he asks the onfield umpires to halt play until he is satisfied the decision was correct.
And ffs do away with a) drinks breaks and b) replays for whether the ball crossed the boundary.
a) drinks can be taken by batsmen while they are in the pavillion, or from the umpire when at the non-strikers end while the bowler walks back to his mark. The umpires can drink drinks anytime, just a simple hip-flask of gin indulged in at square leg. Bowlers can take them at the boundary, it's not as if fielders never go off the field.
b) it happens rarely anyway, but what happened to trusting the word of the fielder(s) who are generally honest on such a non-crucial decision. Sure you could lose by a run for a ball that could have been four but was called three, but that's life, and you might also find a legitimate ball should have been a no ball or wide or any numbers of minor errors made during the match.
Good start by England but did anyone expect any different? Might not be over in three days, but as a contest I suspect it will be over much sooner. How many debuts is that now in the last three Tests? Four?!? (Finn, Carberry, Tredwell and now Morgan)
