By IANS,
London : The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recommended that the controversial third-umpire review system be postponed until October.
It will, therefore, not be used in the Ashes series between Australia and England this summer.
Haroon Lorgat, ICC Chief Executive, admitted the system needs to be fine-tuned.
The recommendations of the ICC’s cricket committee will be passed to the chief executives’ committee and the ICC board for approval in June.
It is now almost certain that the referral system, which came under heavy criticism during the recent tour by England of the Caribbean, is not going be the part of the Ashes.
“We recognised there are ways of improving the technology and certainly the application of it,” Lorgat, at the end of a two-day meeting at Lord’s, was quoted as saying in The Guardian Wednesday.
“Most of the teams are supportive, and all round there was recognition that we have got to get it right. I am very pleased that we will see technology in the game in the not too distant future.”
The system was introduced to assist the third umpires in cutting down their faulty decisions. The referral system was trialled in four Test series dating back to last August.
The current number of two correct challenges per team per innings will be maintained.
“The committee was much more clear this time on ensuring the match officials were properly trained to deal with those circumstances,” said Lorgat.
“The protocols were quite clear. Perhaps the application wasn’t quite clear in the early circumstances. Personally I think we should ensure that really bad errors are eliminated and those marginal ones should be left for the on-field umpires to decide.”