The International Cricket Council announced on Saturday that the third umpire will provide front foot no-ball calls as a trial in the upcoming England-Pakistan One Day International series which begins on Wednesday.
In a media release, the ICC provided further details of the trial. The third umpire will be able to judge front foot no balls within a few seconds of the ball being delivered and will communicate the same to the on-field umpire through pager watches which will vibrate as soon as the third umpire conveys a no-ball decision to them.
The third umpire will also have the help of the four broadcast side-on run-out cameras on a split screen feed with automatic slow motion replay to judge no-ball calls.
"This trial is being carried out to ascertain if there is a way in which front foot no-balls can be called more accurately and consistently, while also assessing the TV umpire’s workload and identifying the impact it will have on the flow of the game," said ICC Senior Manager – Umpires and Referees, Adrian Griffith. "While we need to find out if the technology set-up for this purpose is fit, at the same time we feel this is the right time to conduct the trial as the TV umpires will have more information than ever before to share with the on-field umpires, which, in turn, will help them in correct decision-making."