The International Cricket Council has once again sought to defend its decision to rely more on technology, saying the proposals were aimed at minimising errors and not undermining the on-field umpires in any way.

"The on-field umpires will continue to make the decisions. Their role is no way being compromised," International Cricket Council General Manager Dave Richardson said.

The top ICC official was referring to the proposal which will allow players to make three appeals per innings to the third umpire if they feel a decision made by the on-field umpire is incorrect.

Here's another interesting argument for using technology to help with officiating: it's fairer for the officials:

There is no doubt that the use of television replays would help reduce the number of mistakes made by officials and one can sympathise with the views of Clive Lloyd, who feels "it is time to use technology to the full extent".

The former West Indies captain is one of the International Cricket Council's four full-time match referees and he used Monday evening's annual Cowdrey "Spirit of Cricket" Lecture at Lord's as the stage on which to air his feelings.

"If technology is going to be used increasingly to reflect on the performance of the umpires - both by television and by officialdom - surely umpires should also have the opportunity to use it to improve on or supplement their performance," he said.

"How can it be right to ask an umpire to make a split-second decision based on his own eyesight and hearing when everyone else then judges and, if justified - and, sometimes, when unjustified - criticises that decision having made use of technology designed for that purpose?"

Sports statistician Professor Stephen Clarke, in collaboration with research student Paul Allsopp at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, have observed that conventional wisdom of batting first helps cough up a huge total, is a general myth.

"In test cricket there's a general feeling that if you win the toss you should bat. But when you look at the past record, it shows that both home and away teams do better when they bat second than when they bat first," Clarke said.

You're finding more of this kind of thing in sports. For example recent research shows it makes far more sense to go for it on fourth down and short yardage in pro football (American football). Whether coaches will take this research to heart is another matter. My hunch is, over time, they will.