Hot Spot not foolproof, says inventor

NEW DELHI: Hot Spot inventor Warren Brennan conceded Monday the infra-red technology was not "100 percent accurate" following the vaseline row during the ongoing second Test between India and England.

England's fielders were convinced Indian batsman Venkatsai Laxman had edged a ball from James Anderson on Saturday, but the confident appeal was turned down both by the on-field umpire and the TV official.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan caused a stir by tweeting: "Has vaseline on the outside edge saved the day for Laxman???"

Brennan told the Hindustan Times on Monday it was possible that a nick could go undetected if a batsman applied vaseline or another lubricant on the edges of his bat.

"Anything you can apply to the bat would reduce the friction between bat and ball and that can hinder detection on Hot Spot," Brennan said.

"This is not something that we have tested yet, but we will attempt to test it this week.

"Look, I have always said Hot Spot is not 100 percent accurate. Over the years we have found that occasionally we do not get hot spots when we are expecting them, particularly on the faint edges."

England fast bowler Stuart Broad said he did not find traces of vaseline or any other lubricant on Laxman's bat, and hinted that Hot Spot did not show faint edges.

Former Indian cricketers reacted sharply to Vaughan's tweet, with batting legend Sunil Gavaskar even suggesting that Laxman take the the ex-England skipper to court.

But Vaughan tweeted again, saying he made those comments in a light vein.

"I think there has been a slight over-reaction to Vaseline-gate," Vaughan wrote. "Taken to court!? Sense of humour required for many I think.

"Friends from India, I didn't accuse VVS (Laxman) of using vaseline. And even if a batsman does, it's not cheating, no rules saying you can't."

The Hot Spot technology is now a mandatory part of the Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS), but Hawk Eye, a ball-tracking system, was made optional following objections by India.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011