The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that it will use front foot no-ball technology at the Women’s T20 World Cup later this month. It will be the first time the technology is used at a major tournament.

The decision to use this technology comes after it was recently trialled in both India and West Indies across 12 games in which 4,717 balls were bowled, with 13 no balls called. According to the ICC, all deliveries were accurately judged. 

On-field umpires will remain responsible for identifying other types of no balls, but the front foot will be under the third umpire’s purview. The TV umpire will observe the landing position of the front foot for each ball and communicate whether the bowler has overstepped to the on-field umpire. The on-field umpires will not call any front-foot no-balls unless advised to do so by the third umpire.

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“Cricket has an excellent track record of introducing technology to support the decision making of our match officials and I’m confident that this technology will reduce the small number of front foot no-ball errors at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup,” said Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s general manager.

“No balls are difficult for umpires to call accurately, and even though the percentage of deliveries that are no balls is low, it is important to call them correctly. Since we first trialled this concept in the ODI series between England and Pakistan in 2016 the technology has improved significantly, enabling us to introduce it cost-effectively, and with minimum impact on the flow of the game.”

The Women’s T20 World Cup will begin in Australia on February 21.