LONDON, May 17: Umpires wearing ear-pieces and no-balls being called by the third umpire are two of the innovations set to be trialled by the International Cricket Council (ICC) at their Champions Trophy one-day tournament in England this September.

ICC general manager David Richardson, speaking at the tournament launch at Lord's on Monday, said: "For the second ICC Champions Trophy in succession we hope to be trialling various technological innovations to see if they help umpires in the decision-making process.

"We are hoping to use the 2004 tournament to build on our testing into the use of stump microphone earpieces that began in South Africa last year. "The plan is for umpires to wear an earpiece that picks up the audio from the stump microphone as the ball passes the batsman.

"The trial will enable us to assess whether the microphones position closer to the action area will provide audible assistance in instances of thin nicks," former South Africa wicket-keeper Richardson added. "This may also enable us to trial the deferment of no-ball decisions to the TV Umpire to assess the impact this has on the on-field umpires as the microphones will offer two-way communication."

With the controversy over the legitimacy of off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's action still raging following the Sri Lankan's new world record for most Test wickets, Richardson said the ICC would use the Champions Trophy to conduct more researchg into slow bowling.

"This research is part of the ICCs on-going commitment to deal with the issue of suspected illegal bowling actions and will be carried out by the human movement specialist Dr Paul Hurrion," Richardson explained.

At the last Champions Trophy tournament, in Sri Lanka in 2002, on-field umpires were for the first time in international matches allowed to consult the TV umpire about lbw decisions.

But that experiment has so far not been repeated in either Test or one-day international cricket. Meanwhile New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said he was relishing the prospect of taking on world champions Australia in the Champions Trophy. -AFP