County cricket to trial referral system

Domestic one-day cricket in England will become the testing ground for a ground-breaking use of the TV umpire's position with a referral system set to be introduced for the new season.

It is a method long supported by Duncan Fletcher whereby the fielding and batting sides has a certain number of chances an innings (probably three) to ask for an on-field decision, such as an lbw or caught behind, to be checked by the third umpire.

If TV footage shows the umpire's decision was incorrect the fielding side retains three referrals, but if the pictures support the original decision, or are inconclusive, that appeal has been used up.

A proposal to use this method in international cricket was rejected by ICC last May because of concerns over it undermining the on-field umpires. However, the Sunday Telegraph reports county cricket has now agreed to be a testing ground - something South African provincial cricket has been in the past for other new ideas - with the Pro40 league the likely competition to be involved.

The fielding captain or the batsmen will have about 10 seconds to decide whether to appeal a decision but no TV replays will be shown other than to the third umpire. It has yet to be decided now much technology such as HawkEye and tramlines will be used in the process.

An ICC spokesman told Cricinfo: "We were aware the ECB was contemplating this trial and it will be interesting to see how the concept translates into the reality of a match situation.

"The ICC's Executive Board rejected the idea of such experimentation at this year's ICC Champions Trophy because of fears over the effect it might have on the authority of the on-field umpires and therefore the Spirit of Cricket and that remains our position for the foreseeable future. We look forward to hearing from the ECB at the conclusion of this trial with its thoughts on its success or otherwise."