ICC Board rejects player referral trial

The ICC Board today rejected a recommendation to trial the process of allowing players three appeals per innings to the TV umpire if they felt a decision made by the on-field umpire was incorrect during this year's ICC Champions Trophy.

The trial, which had been recommended by a slender 6-5 margin at the ICC Cricket Committee earlier this year, was rejected on the basis of the impact it may have on the authority of the umpire and the Spirit of Cricket.

ICC President Ehsan Mani said: "The reservations expressed by the Cricket Committee when they recommended the player appeal measure were mirrored to a much greater degree by the ICC Board in its rejection of the concept after extensive deliberation.

"The Board was concerned about the impact of the trial on the Spirit of Cricket and the effect it might have on the integrity of umpiring at all levels.

"It was also felt the ICC Champions Trophy was too high profile an event at which to undertake such a trial. As such, further discussions will now take place to see whether the concept can be tested at domestic level," added Mr Mani.

The week of ICC annual meetings began with the Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) meeting on Sunday and Monday. This meeting approved the expansion of the list of 'mandatory release' matches for county, province and state players from Associate Member national teams.

That list will now include the ICC Twenty20 World Championship and all ODI matches between Associate Members and Full Members, in addition to the previously agreed ICC Cricket World Cups (senior and U/19), ICC Champions Trophy and any ICC Cricket World Cup or ICC Champions Trophy qualifying events.

ODI matches between Associate Members are not included in this mandatory list.

The CEC also approved a series of recommendations concerning the issue of bad light in international cricket. Research on the subject will be undertaken in Australia, England and Pakistan and pending the completion and review of that research, artificial lights can still be used in Test matches.

The CEC also agreed to the increased use of light meters as a guideline for determining whether light is fit or unfit for play. Light meter readings may now be used at any time to determine whether there has been an improvement or deterioration in the light and as a benchmark for the remainder of a stoppage, as well as for a match and/or series.

As part of this process ICC will provide, for the first time, uniformly calibrated light meters to all international umpires.

On Tuesday the Associate Members' Meeting voted for its representatives on the ICC Board and the Chief Executives' Committee.

The following have been appointed to the ICC Board for the next two years:

HRH Tunku Imran (Malaysia) - also re-appointed as Associate Members' Chairman
Stanley Perlman (Israel)
Samir Inamdar (Kenya)

The following have been appointed to the ICC Chief Executives' Committee for the next one year:

Ricardo Lord (Argentina)
John Cribbin (Hong Kong)
Laurie Pieters (Namibia)

The week of meetings at Lord's concludes with the commercial component of the ICC Board meeting on Thursday and the ICC Annual Conference on Friday 7 July at which Percy Sonn is scheduled to take over from Ehsan Mani as ICC President.

The Annual Conference will be followed by the ICC Business Forum and a media conference in the Lord's Banqueting Suite.

The ICC Business Forum will be streamed live on the internet at www.icc-cricket.com