Seeing Andrew Strauss throw Graham Swann the new ball last week reminded me of a Test match I played against Australia at the Oval (in August 1997, Malcolm’s final Test). We were up against it – Phil Tufnell had taken seven wickets in the Australia first innings but they only needed 118 in the second – a tiny score to chase. Earlier Mike Atherton said to me on the balcony while we were batting, “Dev, if we’ve got a small total to bowl at, you won’t be bowling. I’m going to open the bowling with Tufnell”.

I was so upset. I said, “Look mate you’re bloody crazy, you can’t. Give me that new ball and if I don’t get you a wicket by the second or third over take me off. We need to put a shock under them straight away.” I actually worked on Athers for a full session and eventually we had to go out there and bowl. Again I said, “No way. I’ve never played a game of cricket without using that new ball.”

As we were walking down the stairs he said, “Ok Dev”. I got Matthew Elliott out lbw in the second over and I just winked at Athers on my walk back. I said, “You can go back to your original plan now, at least we’ve given them a bit of a fright”.

Then Athers brought Tufnell on and he bowled Australia out, taking four second innings wickets to finish with 11 in the match. And we won the Test. That is the closest I’ve been to having the new ball taken off me and given to a spinner.

Bowlers these days have got their team plans, Strauss realised Devon Smith didn’t play Swanny well enough and tried it out. It didn’t work straight away but later on Swann came back and knocked Smith over first ball. The plan was there, it was clever thinking. It’s not for me though. I would bleed for that new ball.

Moving on to the referral system, it doesn’t surprise me that it will not be used in the Ashes. It’s a high-profile series, so the system has got to be right before we try and implement it. At the moment the amount of time it takes is not good at all. We must get it right so the players, the umpires on the field, the third umpire and the commentators know exactly what the rules are. There was total confusion in the West Indies.

It is important to move with the times, but I liked the game the way I played it. Then the umpire was the most respected person on the field and his decision was final – bad decisions balanced themselves out. Nowadays the ethics are going out of cricket. Youngsters can take an umpire on and question his decision. Because of this instant decision, the respect for the umpire is disappearing. Having said that, sometimes I look at decisions from Test matches that I’ve played in and I think I would have got a lot more wickets with referrals.

Devon Malcolm is writing weekly for thewisdencricketer.com for the duration of the West Indies tour of England in association with the Antigua Tourist Board