Hussey says tracker may have flaws

AFTER being wrongfully fired out in Melbourne last week, Michael Hussey has good reason to slam India's position on the referral system, but the veteran batsman believes there are flaws with the technology used by broadcasters.

Hussey remains a supporter of DRS but is sympathetic to India's controversial stance on the issue, which has had the system barred for this summer's Test and one-day series.

The Indians are the only full members of the ICC who exercise their right to forgo the referral system for gamesThey believe the technology is not reliable - a view also shared by Hussey, who is teammates with touring captain M.S. Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings in the lucrative Indian Premier League.

Although Cricket Australia believe Channel Nine's technology is ''world's best practice'', Hussey has doubts over the accuracy of ball-tracking technology used to determine leg-before-wicket decisions.

''I'm a fan of the DRS just to give the umpires a helping hand, for one, and because we want to get more correct decisions in the match,'' Hussey said yesterday.

''I still, however, do think the technology can be improved. I'm not 100 per cent convinced there is complete accuracy with the tracking system with the ball, which I believe is one of the reasons why the Indians don't want to use it, which is fair enough.''

The merits of ball tracking technology were questioned several times in the series between Australia and New Zealand and also late on Boxing Day when the device was unable to make a projection on a leg before appeal by Zaheer Khan against Brad Haddin due to the shadows creeping across the pitch.

But ball tracking would have been irrelevant to Hussey's first-innings dismissal in Melbourne.

He was given out by umpire Marais Erasmus, caught for a golden duck, despite Hot Spot indicating the ball had not made contact with his bat or gloves, but rather his sleeve.

The normally placid Hussey was animated as he left the field but said yesterday that his response was in frustration not to any umpiring error but his lack of return on the scoreboard for his hard work in the nets.

''So I was almost yelling at the cricket gods really and saying 'Come on, give me a break here','' Hussey said.

''I probably got a bit of a break in the second innings so it's just amazing how the game works.''

There is a belief from within Michael Clarke's side that the 100th SCG Test might be another of Nathan Lyon's occasions to shine as the match wears on.

''It definitely looks a lighter colour," Hussey said. ''Generally that's the way it has gone over the years, it has slowed down a little bit and helped the spinners.

''In the last few years I think the Sydney pitch has changed texture from when it used to be a real dustbowl and really helped the spinners.

''It has been really seamer friendly and there have been some helpful overhead conditions to help that as well. The last few years have been particularly tough for batting, especially early.''

One of the attractions of Lyon to Clarke and other selectors is that he is not afraid to throw the ball up and be punished in his bid to draw batsmen into a stroke they might later regret.