CAPE TOWN // The MCC World Cricket Committee has said it was wrong that the UmpireDecision Review System (DRS) was not used in matches involving India.
Following a two-day meeting here, the committee, consisting of leading former and current players, urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the DRS.
Chairman Mike Brearley acknowledged that the power of India in world cricket was a factor. "We did discuss that general topic," he said.
"The situation about the DRS is key for us because we're focusing on the cricket and there is an example where the governance, in a very direct way, affects what you see on a cricket field.
"Because of the governance and because of the power of India and because of the fact that other countries we understand won't willingly or easily stand up to India, we have this situation that we don't like, that we have the DRS in place, which improves the accuracy of decision making, except when India are playing."
John Stephenson, the MCC head of cricket, said it was encouraging that India had called for more testing of technology. "It's being undertaken at the moment at Cambridge University with MCC staff in the background," he said.
"We're hoping that once that research has been undertaken the report will go back to the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India will start to buy into it. We're hoping to get to the stage where India will have no choice but to get into line with everyone else."
The committee also expressed unanimous disappointment that the introduction of a world Test championship would not take place in 2013 and also that a total corruption-free environment will not be possible.
There is a ruthless, insidious and dangerous underworld where a lot of money can be made by gambling on cricket. There are some very unpleasant people involved and the world's professional cricketers need to know that," Brearley said.
He added that although the committee was an independent body there was interaction with the ICC, with Dave Richardson, head of ICC playing affairs, sitting on both bodies.
"The advantage and disadvantage we have is that we are approaching these questions from a cricket point of view," he said.
"We realise that other people have to be concerned about financial and political matters. We're a cricket-orientated body with a lot of experience of top-class cricket."