Technology for all Tests is backed by England captain

England one-day captain Alastair Cook has backed the mandatory use of the decision review system (DRS) in international cricket.

The International Cricket Council’s chief executives’ committee (CEC) met in Hong Kong and unanimously agreed to recommend all Tests and one-day internationals are played with DRS, albeit modified so as not to automatically include ball-tracking technology such as HawkEye.

While infra-red cameras, like Hot Spot, and audio tracking equipment are likely to become compulsory standards, the Board of Control for Cricket in India have been vocal doubters of predictive ball-tracking.

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Teams will still be allowed to agree to use those systems but they are not part of the compulsory package.

Speaking ahead of his debut as England’s permanent one-day captain, Cook gave his support to the proposals which, if ratified, will come into force in October.

“I believe DRS helps get more right decisions, which is the most important thing,” he said. “What we need is players getting the right decisions, whether they are in or out, and that is the end of the matter.

“I think technology to get those decisions right is the best way forward and we need as much available as we can to get the right decisions.”

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England’s Test series against India later this summer is expected to feature the modified version of DRS recommended by the CEC, where it was previously likely to be absent.

In addition to their recommendations over DRS, the CEC were also in favour of a qualification process for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, paving the way for Ireland to play in Australia and New Zealand.

One-day internationals could also see the restriction of powerplays to between the 16th and 40th overs, plus the use of two new balls per innings – one from each end.

The use of runners is also set to be abolished while team captains face stricter sanctions for slow over-rates during matches.

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