MUMBAI, Sept 7: In a belated admission, International Cricket Council on Thursday said its match referee for the Oval Test — Mike Procter – could have prevented the situation from snowballing into a major crisis by dealing with matter on the field itself.

Although ICC has been stoutly defending its officials in entire ball-tampering row involving Pakistan team, its chief executive Malcolm Speed put part of the blame on match referee for forfeited match without naming him.

“As per laws of the game umpires should be sole judges of fair and unfair play. The issue is too simple and should have been dealt with by the match referee on the field itself,” Speed said.

“The referee, generally a former cricketer, deals with problems on the field of action at end of the day's play by calling concerned players, captains and umpires for a hearing (in his room),” Speed said.—Agencies