Pakistan call for two neutral umpires

The Pakistan board has asked the ICC to stand two neutral umpires in one-day internationals and review all the decisions from the VB Series in Australia, Reuters has reported.

Pakistan had a handful of lbw decisions go against them during the two finals losses against Australia, where one neutral umpire was employed alongside a home official in line with ICC regulations. Rudi Koertzen gave Adam Gilchrist a reprieve in the first over yesterday while Andrew Symonds survived a couple of close shouts at Melbourne. Michael Clarke was trapped in front by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan at the MCG and three Pakistan batsmen were given out lbw in the two matches.

The news agency reported a source close to the board saying a letter had been sent to Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, asking for a review of all decisions because of "inconsistent" umpiring. Abbas Zaidi, the PCB director of media, said it was a "confidential document".

Inzamam-ul-Haq said he did not have a problem with the one-day umpiring. "But I think it's good for the game to have neutral umpires," he said. "There is a lot of pressure and umpires are human too."