BULAWAYO (Reuters)
South African captain Shaun Pollock has called for umpires on the pitch to have the last word on dismissals in referred decisions, not their colleagues watching on television monitors.

Pollock was speaking at the end of the third day of the second Test against Zimbabwe after having an appeal for a catch turned down. Pollock was fielding at slip to left-arm spinner Claude Henderson when Guy Whittall, on eight with the total 350 for 6, edged a delivery low and hard to the South African captain's left.

Pollock snared the ball between two fingers and claimed the catch but umpire John Hampshire referred it to third umpire Graeme Evans, who judged Whittall not out because the ball might have touched the ground before Pollock had it under his control.

"I thought I had it," Pollock told reporters. "Both the umpires said they thought it was out but they just wanted to check it with the third umpire. I think the problem these days is that the catches don't get shown clearly on the cameras. So a lot of catches that get referred just get 'not out'. I thought I had it but obviously the camera angle must have shown it differently."

Pollock said he would prefer decisions to be made by the umpires on the field when there was doubt in the mind of the third umpire. "If the evidence is not conclusive on the TV, then refer it and say the umpires must go with their gut feel," he said. "Because at the end of the day if it's not conclusive then the umpires can't get bad press about it because there's no proof otherwise."

Pollock said he was not concerned that the much-vaunted South African attack had failed to dismiss underdogs Zimbabwe. "The wicket's very dead," Pollock said. "There's not a hell of a lot in it and I thought the guys stuck to their task very well."

None stuck more to the task than Henderson, who bowled 38 overs unchanged from the 17th over of the day until the declaration came. He took 4 for 143 and the 67 overs he bowled in total were the most by any bowler in a Test innings against Zimbabwe. "At least he's got a Test cricket record," Pollock said. "He did really well. It wasn't easy for him out there but he stuck to his guns."

Pollock himself led by example, bowling immaculately in taking 2 for 40 in 28 overs, 14 of which were maidens. "In conditions like that you've just got to try and build pressure by keeping it as tight as you can," Pollock said. "I just tried to hang in there and hopefully get some rewards but they weren't coming as quickly as I wanted. But I suppose Test cricket is all about patience."

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