TECHNOLOGY is on the lips of most of the pundits just at the moment with those who profess to know all there is to know about football insisting that now is the time to change the face of the game and introduce aids for the officials.

The people who demand change cite rugby of both codes, tennis and Cricket as the perfect role models for technology in sport and they are sure the game will become better for it.

Talk of technology in football and the like is not exactly what you would expect to read in a column titled ‘Talking Cricket’ – but bear with me dear reader.

You see on Saturday morning the Australians kicked off their tour with a game against Ireland in Belfast and after a delayed start they unleashed the still fearsome pace of Brett Lee on the men in green.

Lee can bowl like the wind – and he was a gale force as his first ball was a beauty and Will Porterfield never stood a chance as the ball ripped off the seam and bowled him.

He then bowled Ed Joyce with the third ball in something of a dream start. All well and good for the Aussies – but at the end of the over when the TV experts turned their Hawkeye technology on to show Lee’s over there was one thing missing.

That beautiful first ball may not have been that beautiful after all. You see, according to the predictive technology, the gem was actually missing the stumps.

Now obviously Porterfield was out – but the failure of technology can only lead to doubts in the minds of people.

Can it really be trusted for the borderline LBW? You have to wonder – and it isn’t going to make the jobs of the umpires any easier.

So to the football fans and pundits demanding goalline technology and the like just be careful what you wish for – and perhaps concentrate on taking penalties.