Hot Spot inventor warned ICC about tape issue

Cricket365
August 9, 2013

The inventor of Hot Spot, Warren Brennan, had raised concerns about the effects of silicone tape on bat edges before the allegations of cheating were made, but he did not go so far as to say players were trying to trick the system.

ICC general manager Geoff Allardice met with both Brennan and the England and Australia teams this week to discuss DRS issues, but at neither meeting did anyone suggest players were using tape to fool Hot Spot, he said.

The allegations of cheating were made by an Australian news channel, and both sides reacted with vehement denials, saying tape was used on bats all the time, it wasn't against the rules, and tricking Hot Spot could often work against the player in an LBW review.

Allardice met with Brennan in Melbourne last week, where the inventor said tests had shown that a second layer of tape on a bat edge seemed to dull Hot Spot's efficacy, but that further testing would be required.

Allardice said on <i>Cricinfo</i>: "He followed up with an email to me on Monday suggesting that they'd looked at some clips and that coatings on the bat might have been dulling down the Hot Spot mark.

"He made us aware of that. On Tuesday, he did some testing and informed us of that. He also advised us that he was intending to make a media statement.

"We talked about the timing of that. It's his company, his product, he's free to say whatever he likes in the media. We were expecting to see something either yesterday or today.

"We didn't really talk about the inference that players were doing it deliberately to try and beat the Hot Spot.

"I think we did warn him that if he made a statement along those lines, if the inference was that the players were trying to cheat the Hot Spot system he would need some strong evidence to support that.

"There is no evidence to support that assertion and certainly from the comments of the teams you can see that they don't believe that that happens."

When asked if the ICC would be making any rule changes about bat coatings and taped edges, Allardice said that they would need a lot more evidence, and that changes in the short term were not going to happen.

He said: "I think it's very early days, in that players have had coatings on bats, and manufacturers' stickers on bats, and reinforcing tape on bats for forever and a day.

"We listened to Warren's view and there may be something in it but I'd think we'd want to gain a lot more evidence before we'd look at rule changes or anything like that.

"This was a theory that he put up on Monday this week. He did some tests that he felt supported that theory. We would like to see some more evidence from on the ground with players in action to support that.

"At this stage we've got no intention of changing the rules in the short term."