India accepts 'UDRS'
Minnows to have their shot at WC
Afp, Hong Kong
India agreed Monday to a modified version of the controversial Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), bringing to an end a damaging row which threatened to tear apart international cricket.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) said its chief executives' committee (CEC) had unanimously agreed at its Hong Kong conference to make UDRS mandatory in all international Tests and one-day matches, India's cricket authorities announced.
"The agreed standards will include infrared cameras and audio-tracking devices," the ICC said in a statement on its website.
"The CEC also agreed that further independent and expert research will be carried out into ball-tracking technology and its accuracy and reliability.
"The continued use of ball-tracking technology as a decision-making aid will depend on bilateral agreement between the participating members."
The ground-breaking deal means that India will, for the first time, agree to using the UDRS in a Test series when they tour England from July. But the world champions released a statement after the meeting insisting that the Hawkeye ball-tracking system remained "unacceptable".
"The BCCI has always expressed its willingness to embrace technology, for the betterment of the game," said Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the president-elect of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, in a statement posted on its website.
Hot Spot, the "thermal imaging" technology now available and made mandatory in the UDRS, will mostly be used for close catches and edges.
But the committee decided that the use of Hawkeye, which tracks the trajectory of the delivery, would continue to depend on agreement between both teams in any match.
Lbw decisions will continue to be governed by the on-field umpires.
Under the agreement, teams will be allowed to make one incorrect challenge to an on-field umpire's decision before all their referrals for that innings are used up.
Meanwhile, the ICC also opened the door Monday for non-Test playing nations to compete in the next World Cup, reversing a bar that had outraged "minnows" such as Ireland and Holland.
The ICC in a statement said the CEC had recommended a qualifying process for the 2015 tournament, without specifying how many teams it wanted to see taking part.
The recommendation rows back on the ICC's unpopular decision to limit the 2015 World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand, to the 10 full-member teams -- excluding Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, Kenya and other countries.
Officials are believed to be in favour of retaining a 10-team limit but a qualifying tournament would give minor nations a chance of reaching the event.
The committee approved recommendations to continue research into the use of different colour balls in day/night Test matches and the directive that batsmen can be given out for obstructing the field if they change their direction when running between the wicket to block a run-out chance.
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