If ever a transaction came with cost

(the DRS must be it)
"There must be some way out of this" says the joker, with the thief listening.

"It's too confusing, boss. The administration dithers, the scientists bring in more angles. Even Harsha Bhogle wants relief. And none of them understand what it's worth."

"You get excited too easily" says the thief. "You know we can use an auction to discover worth. You and I, come on, we've been through that."

(pauses, while Mark Nicholas airs his view on shrinking three dimensions down to two)

"Let's not pretend to perfection, the game's staring down the toilet bowl it will soon start to circle as it is..."

All along the TV towers, HawkEye keeps it view.

Unanticipated events and the DRS

when the Decision Review System (DRS) was brought in to cricket, it was meant to resolve the "howlers" that is decisions made by an umpire that was obviously wrong.

Instead it is used for marginal decisions. But that is not of concern here, the focus is on the unanticipated effect of using the DRS - it has changed, or will change surely, how the batsmen play their defensive shots.

Why should this be so? The DRS contains a highly controversial ball tracking technology that can "predict" where the ball would go. In times past, when the umpire on-field was the sole voice of authority, it was usually okay to tuck bat inside pad and take a big step down the wicket to smother the ball (the only caveat was if it was obvious that the batsman was not offering a shot, then a more relaxed, bowler friendly decision is possible). This would cause enough uncertainty as to where the ball would go, since it still had a way to go, and the benefit of the doubt went to the batsmen.

Now, with ball tracking, this uncertainty is removed. Obviously (in retrospect) now batsmen have to use their bats more to pat the ball down. For this alone, the DRS is a good thing, no more will England and South Africa get over their inadequacies against spin by hiding behind their legs. Perhaps a more equal game, and thus, a more interesting game awaits.

Shows how policy changes can have effects that were not anticipated, let alone expected.