ICC confirm no lbw referrals during England v India series

The International Cricket Council have confirmed that lbw decisions will not be referred in the forthcoming Test series between England and India as a result of the tourists' concerns over ball-tracking technology.

While a watered down version of the decision review system will be in place, meaning 'Hot Spot' is in place for catches as well as a stump microphone to pick up audio, there will be no HawkEye system.

India are noted sceptics of the predictive element of the technology, which TV umpires use to determine whether a ball would have gone on to hit the stumps after impact with the pad.

Due to their concerns the ICC board were not able to make a full DRS system mandatory in all Tests and instead resolved to allow member boards to determine whether ball-tracking will be used on a bilateral basis.

While the England and Wales Cricket Board are keen supporters of HawkEye, the Board of Control for Cricket in India refused to agree to its use in the four-Test series which begins at Lord's tomorrow, as well as the following one-day series.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, said: "While we are disappointed that the full DRS will not be used to support the umpires, we are pleased that the ECB and BCCI have worked hard to ensure the minimum DRS is used in this much-anticipated series.

"It is common knowledge that the ICC and ECB would have liked ball tracking to have been included so that lbw decisions could have also been reviewed, but the last chief executives' committee and board meeting in Hong Kong agreed to independently confirm the accuracy of ball-tracking technology. This will now take place as a matter of urgency."