Sonic edge-detection technology joins the DRS for the first time on India's tour of New Zealand

New Zealand-designed audio analysis will help third umpires judge bat-ball contact for the first time as India open their tour in Christchurch

New Zealand Cricket, broadcaster Sky and the technology company Virtual Eye have confirmed that an edge-detection system called Sonic will form part of the Decision Review System for India's tour of New Zealand, its first use in a review that counts.

The approval follows what the board described as an extensive programme of testing, validation and independent assessment, carried out in consultation with the International Cricket Council and supported by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Virtual Eye has been ICC-accredited for ball-tracking since 2008. With Sonic added, it will supply the full suite of DRS technology across the three series the sides play before December.

What Sonic does

Sonic uses advanced audio analysis to assist third umpires when they review potential bat-ball contact, the part of a review that most often divides opinion.

It sits alongside the ball-tracking Virtual Eye already provides, so for this tour one supplier covers both halves of a review.

The system was designed and built in New Zealand, and this tour is its first outing in international cricket.

A deliberately slow approval

New Zealand Cricket's chief marketing and commercial officer, Glenn Critchley, presented the length of the process as the point of it.

"The integrity of decision-making is fundamental to the game, which is why such a comprehensive testing and assessment process has been undertaken," Critchley said. "The technology has been subject to extensive validation and independent review, and we're pleased with the outcome of that process."

He thanked the ICC, the BCCI, Sky and Virtual Eye for their collaboration, and said it was pleasing to see New Zealand innovation contributing to the game at the highest level.

A New Zealand company on the world stage

Virtual Eye chief executive Ben Taylor said the approval represented years of research, development and testing by the New Zealand company.

"Our team has worked tirelessly developing and refining this technology, with a strong focus on accuracy, consistency and meeting the standards expected at the highest level of international sport," Taylor said.

"To see New Zealand-developed technology approved for use in a major international cricket series is a significant moment for Virtual Eye and another example of Kiwi innovation succeeding on the world stage."

Approved for this tour only

The clearance is narrow. It covers the New Zealand series against India and nothing beyond it, with any future use remaining subject to the ICC's ongoing accreditation and approval processes.

That makes the coming weeks an assessment as much as a broadcast upgrade, watched by a governing body that will decide whether the system travels to other countries.

Sky's head of sport content, Gary Burchett, said the broadcaster was committed to supporting innovation that enhances the game and the viewing experience, and was looking forward to seeing the technology in action.

Three series to judge it on

India's all-format tour opens with a five-match T20I series, the first of them in Christchurch, and is followed by five ODIs and two Tests.

The second Test is scheduled to end on December 1, giving the system ten white-ball matches and up to ten days of red-ball cricket to be judged on.

The Tests will ask the hardest questions of it, because the faint edges and bat-pad appeals that reach a third umpire are the decisions ball-tracking alone cannot settle.

Whether Sonic is used anywhere beyond New Zealand will be settled by the ICC long after India have flown home.

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