Poor Brian Lara!

"We all make mistakes and I think the players actually make more mistakes than the umpires do," Koertzen said.

"So they should leave it up to us to make the mistakes." And, boy, has he had a field day with the two Test matches so far against Australia. How ironic that he is the one who seems most in need of technology to make the right decisions.

Poor Brian Lara! He has been cheated out three times in four innings, twice by Koertzen — once lbw and the latest, caught behind. And this umpire is firmly against the use of technology for catches and leg-before decisions? At least now we have evidence which might convince him to change his mind. Some people argue that referring decisions to the third umpire slows down the game too much. But Test matches carded for five days routinely end in four and, sometimes, three days.

A contributing factor is a batsman being given out when he is not out. Surely, a minute or so to get a ruling from the third umpire is worth the time.

We are all too familiar with how a game can turn on one crucial dismissal.

Nowadays, several minutes are sometimes spent trying to determine if a ball went for four or not. Is that more important than deciding whether or not Lara is out? When the poor performance of the West Indies in Australia is being debated, it would be worthwhile to remember that Brian Lara has been cheated out three times in four innings.

When this happens to your one batsman who can turn a game around all by himself, and who inspires others to play better when he is at the other end, it must have a demoralising effect on the rest of the team, and in other aspects of the game as well.

I am disappointed with our players in Australia, especially by the irresponsibility of senior players like Gayle and Sarwan, but I also know that it could have been so much different had Lara been allowed to bat until he was truly out.

DR NOEL KALICHARAN

UWI, St Augustine