Isaac backs Indian board on DRS

The ICC vice-president Alan Isaac has backed the BCCI's stance on the DRS, saying he too isn't convinced the technology works "well enough". The BCCI has expressed its reservations over the ball-tracking technology used for lbw decisions, saying it isn't fool-proof and Isaac felt the Indian board was "right". The BCCI, the other member boards and the ICC reached a compromise at the ICC's annual conference in Hong Kong earlier this year, making the use of ball-tracking optional for each series while agreeing to use Hot Spot for every international game subject to availability.

"In my experience they are very decent to work with," Isaac was quoted as saying in the New Zealand newspaper Southland Times. "Around the DRS [technology for umpires] for example the media have tended to give [India] the blame as to why the DRS is not being implemented, but it's not only them. I personally am not convinced the technology works well enough, so we've got to do something about that."

Isaac also claimed the BCCI was right about many issues concerning cricket but divergent views in the media tend to give the impression that they are muscle-flexing and difficult to work with. "Often when [India] hold a view, they are right, but various parts of the media have a different view, whether you're Geoff Boycott or whatever. So this perception has built up that A, [India] are hard to deal with and B, they control world cricket. But in fact they are good to work with and on the DRS I actually think they are right."

Cricket was hit by the spot-fixing controversy last year, plunging it into another crisis, and Isaac said a lot is being done to tackle the problem of corruption. "It is challenging. Allegedly there is a whole lot of money being spent betting on sport, not just on cricket and betting on sport in India is illegal so it's not like you can manage it.

"In New Zealand, Australia or Singapore it's legalised betting and you can monitor more closely where bets might take place.

"Part of what we are doing is making sure the education is there, making sure the sanctions are there, there's a heck of a lot of monitoring that takes place. You will be aware that guys are not allowed to take their cell-phones into the dressing room environment and all those types of things. There's a lot of surveillance in place."

Isaac, a former left-hand batsman who captained Wellington's second team, took over as chairman of New Zealand Cricket in 2008 and was nominated for post of vice-president of the ICC two years later. He will succeed Sharad Pawar as ICC president next year.