The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced Tuesday they are running a trial that will allow players to challenge decisions made by umpires in the Friends Provident Trophy limited-overs tournament. The trial is being conducted in conjunction with the International Cricket Council and will apply to televised matches in the 50-over competition.
Only the captain of the fielding side or the batsman involved will be able to refer decisions, with each team allowed only two unsuccessful referrals per innings. Alan Fordham, the ECB's operations manager, conceded discussions with umpires on whether to run the trial had received only a "50-50 split" of those in favour.
But he insisted the ECB were right to be dynamic in finding out whether there is a future for increased reliance on technology in the game.Fordham said: "We are under no illusions this will be an easy trial. If we need to tweak things as we go on then we will.
"While we acknowledge the high standard of umpiring in our domestic game, we believe that the opportunity to explore ways that we can achieve even more correct decisions must be taken and this is the aim of the trial." The idea of the trial is to cut down on the number of honest mistakes made by the umpires without encouraging fielders to appeal for any half chance.
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