Sri Lanka keen on UDRS for West Indies series

Sri Lanka Cricket is keen on using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) for this month's series against West Indies.

SLC Interim Committee secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said the board was working closely with the ICC and Ten Sports, who have the television and broadcasting rights, to make the necessary equipment available for the series. According to the ICC's regulations, the decision to use the UDRS for a series lies with the hosts but in consultation with the touring team.

"We are keen to have the DRS system for the West Indies tour and we are working towards making it a reality," Ranatunga said.

Ranatunga said he has been made to understand by Ten Sports that the Hawk-eye technology, which is required to implement the DRS system, isn't freely available all the time. It has to be hired from an international company which owns it and there is also the cost factor to be considered in installing it.

"The ICC has said that it is prepared to bear part of the cost and we are hopeful that Ten Sports can have the system in place," Ranatunga said.

Hawk-eye is a system which traces a ball's trajectory, with a claimed accuracy of 5 mm, and sends it to a virtual-reality machine.

It uses six or more computer-linked television cameras situated around the field. The computer reads the video in real time, and tracks the path of the ball on each camera. These six separate views are then combined together to produce an accurate 3D representation of the path of the ball.

Ranatunga said a final decision would be reached by next week.

West Indies will arrive in Sri Lanka on November 8 to play a full series comprising three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off Twenty20 international.