LAHORE: Five venues in Australia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates are under consideration for the biennial Champions Trophy this year, a top official said yesterday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) last month moved the elite eight-nation event out of Pakistan after three countries refused to tour the Muslim country over security fears.
The event is scheduled for Sept. 24 to Oct. 5 with a final decision on the host country to be made by the ICC executive board in Dubai next month.
ICC General Manager Dave Richardson said some had questioned the idea of holding the event in Sri Lanka, announced as the alternative venue in case the event was scrapped in Pakistan.
"Some doubts have been raised as far as Sri Lanka is concerned," said Richardson adding that weather was an issue on the island where the 2002 edition was hit badly by rain.
"If it's not Sri Lanka, the options narrow down considerably to Perth, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and these options need to be considered next month," said Richardson.
The ill-fated event was first postponed in September last year when South Africa refused to tour Pakistan, while Australia, England and New Zealand also voiced concerns over touring the troubled country. Richardson said the event will be shortened to 12 days.
"What the board has decided is that we want to hold the tournament over 12 days which means that we have to have two venues in virtually the same city, with no international travel being involved," said Richardson.
Australia will defend the title they won in India in 2006.
England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competing teams.
The ICC will also assess the newly introduced umpiring referrals in Test matches when the cricket committee meets in May, Richardson said.
The committee meets under the chairmanship of former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, with Australia's Mark Taylor and umpire Simon Taufel as its members.
"It's not an easy process," Richardson said. "Cricket is a very complicated game to officiate in. It's not like tennis where you've got a line and it's one question, did it go in or out." Last year, the ICC introduced the new system of referrals with the series between Sri Lanka and India when a batsman or bowler could appeal against an on-field umpire's decision to the TV umpire - also from the ICC's elite panel of umpires.
"What we found in the trials was that correct decision percentage went up from about 93 to 98 percent," Richardson said.
However, Richardson agreed there were some mistakes made by the television umpires during the ongoing series between England-West Indies and South Africa-Australia.
"In a way, I'm grateful that it has been raised like faint edges," he said. "(But) if we get close to 98 percent, it's an excellent result.
"If we are going for 100 percent, we are fooling ourselves. Maybe mistakes were made in the West Indies, but we have to live with it." Richardson said by using more technology, the ICC did not want to "de-skill" the on-field umpires.
"We don't want the umpires just to become coat hangers or ball counters," Richardson said. "They must be able to show their skills. This system doesn't de-skill them." He said that if the umpire gets a correct decision with the use of technology it would nullify controversies during Test matches.
"Often, umpiring controversies create bad behavior among players," Richardson said. "What we found there was no dissent and players were very happy." The ICC extended its panel of elite umpires from 10 to 12 last year and Richardson said they all come under "incredible scrutiny" throughout the year.
"At the moment, umpires are expected to officiate in eight test matches and 10-14 one-dayers every year. To my mind, it's a very reasonable ask from the umpires," Richardson said. "The bottom line is they are doing a tremendous job. They are under incredible scrutiny and they do a good job."
