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The ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka will be used to trial the extended use of television technology, to test its ability to consistently reach correct decisions and assist umpires in the accuracy of their decision making.

Delegates at the ICC Cricket Committee-Playing (CC-P) meeting in Cape Town, South Africa agreed to the trial, put forward by ICC management, during the ICC Champions Trophy, which will run from the 12th to 30th September. Under the experimental system field umpires will be able to consult with the third umpire on any aspect of a decision they are unsure of. Consultation will be optional, but when called for decisions will be reached as soon as possible. The third umpire will be allowed two replays of any incident before passing on information to the field umpire. Line decisions, hit wicket and boundary referrals will continue to be decided by the TV umpire, as per the present system.

The new ICC panels of umpires and referees will discuss the recommendation at their Workshop near Cape Town later this week. Their views and those of CC-P will go to the ICC Executive Board for final ratification at the next meeting in England in June.

"Technology is an emotive issue, with persuasive voices on both sides of the debate. By agreeing to a limited, but high profile trial, we will be better placed to judge if greater use of technology is the way to go in the long term," explained ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed. Adding to this view CC-P Chairman Sunil Gavaskar said: "International umpires do a difficult job extremely well. They already make a very high degree of correct decisions, for which they receive too little credit. The ICC wants to support umpires and if this experiment proves that technology can make that contribution it will be considered for further use in the international game."

The Champions Trophy has been nominated for the technology trial because of its imminence, the fact that each Test nation will be involved and all members of the ICC's Elite Panel of international umpires will be adjudicating.

If the Champions Trophy experiment does prove successful a special meeting of CC-P will be held to decide if extended technology should be used in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup. If not, the use of technology will revert to current practice.

The full CC-P delegate list:

Sunil Gavaskar, India, chairman, A. Raquibal Hassan, Bangladesh, David Acfield, England, Steven Lubbers, Netherlands, Zaheer Abbas, Pakistan, Brijesh Patel, India, Brian Basson, South Africa, Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe, Ian Bishop, West Indies, John Reid Jnr, New Zealand, Allan Border, Australia, Harilal Shah, Kenya, Geoff Edwards, Canada, Sidath Wettimuny, Sri Lanka, Tim May, FICA.

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