Ashes 2013: ICC to remain silent over DRS dismissal of Jonathan Trott

No comment to make on an 'umpiring decision'
Governing body closes ranks around third umpire
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Aleem Dar
The umpire Aleem Dar indicates that Jonathan Trott is out, much to the delight of Australia. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

The International Cricket Council has closed ranks around Marais Erasmus, the South African who infuriated England with his decisions on the second day of the first Ashes Test.

England confirmed overnight that Dave Richardson, the former South Africa wicketkeeper who is now the ICC chief executive, had contacted the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Giles Clarke, to apologise for a breach in protocol. Erasmus had overturned the decision of the on-field umpire, Aleem Dar, by giving Jonathan Trott lbw despite the unavailability of the Hot Spot technology because of "operator error".

But the ICC refused to make any public statement on the issue. "We don't have a comment to make, because this was an umpiring decision," said a spokesman.

Erasmus, a 49-year-old who joined the ICC's elite umpires panel in 2010 and has stood in 18 Tests, is due for a higher-profile role in the remainder of the series. He will be one of the standing umpires in each of the next two Tests, at Lord's and Old Trafford, before reverting to the TV box for the fourth Test in Durham.

Glenn McGrath, the former Australia bowler who is covering the Ashes for the Guardian and BBC radio, has criticised the ICC and the umpires. "Irrespective of the technology the ICC have a job to do about the game out in the middle," he said, responding to suggestions that the governing body should take responsibility for the implementation of Hot Spot rather than leaving it to the host broadcasters such as Sky. "Broadcasting is about bringing everything to the public, whereas the ICC should be focused on the laws.

"What happened yesterday, the Trott issue, shouldn't happen. The fact that they're holding a replay from the ball before … they should move on. From a bowling and batting perspective that's what you want, the things they can get right. Hopefully they can iron that out. It depends on what side of the fence you're sitting. If that happened to Australia we'd be blowing up, and a few of the English would be saying that's the game of cricket."

On the decision by Erasmus to overturn Dar's initial not-out call, McGrath said: "That was dead–pitched middle, hitting middle about eight inches up, so why did Aleem Dar give it not out? Maybe the third umpire could have asked that – there's got to be a reason why he gave it not out."

In a tweet from the ECB, Warren Brennan, the man who invented the Hot Spot infra-red technology, said: "I'm pretty confident that he [Trott] probably did hit it so, assuming that is the case, I can do nothing more than apologise to the players & to the fans that unfortunately Hot Spot let everybody down yesterday on that decision."

Continuing in the same vein on TalkSport, Brennan warned that there was no prospect of a flawless decision-making process in the future. "I've always been very up front and honest and I've said that our system is not perfect. There are times when things just go wrong. People bang on about the fact that technology should be 100%. Well, it's just never going to get to that stage. There are so many little intangibles that can create problems."