ICC apologise to England over Jonathan Trott dismissal

Nottingham: England received apologies from the International Cricket Council and the founder of the Hot Spot thermal imaging technology after the dismissal of Jonathan Trott for his first golden duck in Test cricket had marred another memorable day of Ashes cricket in Nottingham on Thursday.

They took the highly unusual step of seeking clarification from the ICC after Trott had been given out lbw by the third umpire, Marais Erasmus, who overruled the original not-out decision of Aleem Dar, even though the crucial Hot Spot angle was not available to determine whether the ball had hit bat before pad.

That infuriated England, with team director Andy Flower immediately demanding an explanation from the match referee, Ranjan Madugalle. Confirmation is expected on Friday that Dave Richardson, the ICC chief executive, conceded to the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Giles Clarke, that Erasmus made a mistake.

Meanwhile, Warren Brennan, a New Zealander who adapted the Hot Spot technology for cricket, contacted the ESPN Cricinfo website to confirm Sky’s claim that the “glitch” which cost Trott his wicket was down to “operator error”.

Brennan explained that the operator in question had not “triggered the system for the Trott delivery” because he was waiting to offer a replay of the previous ball, from which Joe Root was given out caught behind down the leg side. Root was left to regret his failure not to call for a review, as those replays showed no proof that he had edged Mitchell Starc’s delivery.

“The operator sat on the Root delivery in order to offer a replay from the previous ball and did not realise until it was too late that he should have triggered the system for the Trott delivery as the priority,” said Brennan. “Simple mistake, something that anyone could have made, but my Hot Spot operator has worked on the system since 2007 and to my knowledge this is the first serious mistake he has made.”

England’s greater complaint was with Erasmus, not only for overturning Dar’s not-out decision despite the absence of all necessary evidence, but also for reprieving Ashton Agar much earlier in another wildly fluctuating day.

They were convinced that Agar, who went on to score a record-breaking 98, should have been dismissed in single figures when Erasmus turned down a loud stumping appeal.

Neither Flower nor any other ECB officials commented publicly, leaving Jimmy Anderson to face the media.

“Trotty hit the ball and he’s been given not out, so it’s very frustrating, yeah,” said Anderson. “Whatever happened after that I’m not too sure. It is frustrating that it got overruled, overturned, so I’m not sure what went on.”

He also confirmed that Matt Prior was confident he had stumped Agar, although Anderson had the grace to offer warm praise for the teenager’s remarkable innings.

“I’m sure it will be looked back on as one,” the Lancastrian said when asked if he considered the last-man stand a great Ashes moment, although he added: “I probably didn’t think that at the time. It was a pressure situation and he coped with it really well and really did frustrate us for a while.”