Controversial Hotspot to be dropped for Ashes series

The controversial Hotspot technology will not be available to umpires to review decisions in the upcoming Ashes series between Australia and England, its inventor Warren Brennan said.

Hotspot, which uses infrared cameras to determine whether the ball has struck the batsman, bat or pad, was the subject of much controversy in the Ashes in England series earlier this year, which the hosts won 3-0.

With a second series in Australia getting underway in Brisbane on November 21st, Brennan said that the technology had been dumped by host broadcaster Channel Nine for cost reasons.

If Brennan is correct, umpires will now have just the ball-tracking device “Eagle Eye“, slow motion replays and the microphones set into the stumps to aid their decisions.