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Stand-in England cricket captain Andrew Strauss has dismissed Cricket Australia’s (CA) suggestion to use Australian and English umpires instead of the International Cricket Council (ICC) neutral umpires for the forthcoming Ashes series.

“I am happy with the system which is currently in place. From my point of view the regulations the ICC has in place are perfectly adequate. I don’t see any reason to change that,” he was quoted as saying by Daily Telegraph.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) reacted coolly to CA’s suggestion.

“The ICC has well-established principle for appointing neutral umpires for Test matches. It is a process that the ECB is comfortable with,” an ECB spokesman said.

CA had earlier suggested that a contest between the two best sides in the world should have top umpires officiating. “In a perfect world, it would be great for a series that will not only determine who wins the Ashes but could decide world number one ranking to be officiated by the world’s top-ranked umpires,” CA Spokesman Peter Young had said.

Australian Simon Taufel is currently regarded as the best umpire in the world, while there are three other umpires from two countries in the ten-member Elite Panel — Daryl Harper and Darrell Hair from Australia, and England’s Mark Benson.

If the ICC doesn’t agree with CA suggestion, umpires for the series will be selected from six others in the panel — Steve Bucknor and Billy Doctrove from the West Indies, Aleem Dar and Asad Rauf from Pakistan, Billy Bowden from New Zealand and South Africa’s Rudi Koertzen.

Source:The News

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