England could refer appeals to a third TV umpire

The International Cricket Council may use England's Test series at home to South Africa this July to trial a referral system on umpiring decisions.

Players would be allowed to challenge decisions made by on-field umpires, and have them referred to the TV official.

The ICC has not proposed a precise format, but it is likely teams would have a limited number of challenges.

Any trial remains subject to official approval by both England and South Africa's national cricket boards.

The use of the third umpire in international matches is currently governed by the proviso that it is the on-field umpires alone who decide whether a decision needs to be passed on to the replay official.

606: DEBATE The ICC is keen to make umpiring decisions as good as possible BBC Sport's Oliver Brett

Even then, they can only refer "line" decisions or incidents where catches may have been grounded.

An experiment to allow players to challenge decisions was first attempted in English county cricket's Friends Provident Trophy in 2007.

But it was not regarded as a great success.

A similar system in tennis using the Hawk-eye technology, which uses cameras to follow the ball's trajectory, has already been successfully used to challenge line calls at the US and Australian Open and Wimbledon.