When Allan Donald was given out leg before by Pakistan umpire Javed Akhtar, the all-seeing eye of the television replay camera suggested this was just one more in a catalogue of errors.

Donald, mystifyingly booed out to the crease by the crowd on the Western Terrace, clearly got a thick edge on to the delivery from Angus Fraser.

As he marched away, the fast bowler showed his feelings by examining the offending part of his bat and then waving it above his head at the crowd.

Match referee Ahmed Ebrahim was not disposed this time to consider disciplining Donald for dissent, though 48 hours earlier he had fined the player £600 and imposed a one-match suspended ban for Donald's criticism of Trent Bridge umpire Mervyn Kitchen.

When the history of this series comes to be written, it will include as much on the disputed decisions as the quality of the contest.

The slow-motion television replay has been refined to such a degree that it was become the Torquemada of umpiring. Umpires are forever on the rack, each verdict scrutinised and dissected frame by frame.

The players themselves, fearing further trouble, now confine themselves to a fixed grimace - the anger burning below - and a quick about-turn out of the crease.

There is a growing body of opinion for the third umpire to be able to intervene if he sees a glaringly wrong decision on his television screen. Bob Woolmer, South Africa's coach, favours such a move, arguing that since the game is already partly in hock to the camera, there is no reason why it should not go the whole way.

Donald backs that view. ``Why not get those hairline decisions right? It will take a lot of pressure off the guy in the middle and make life easier for him.''