The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Wednesday that it will increase the number of umpires on its elite panel from seven to either nine or ten.
"Next year when we sit down to make appointments we will increase the number to nine or ten but we want to have the best umpires supervising tests and one-day internationals," ICC chief executive Malcom Speed said.
The current Test series involving Pakistan and England has been marked by some contentious decisions, one leading to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to complain to the ICC over the run out of Inzamam-ul-Haq in the second Test in Faisalabad.
The Pakistan skipper was given out by Australian umpires Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel on the second day of play when he took evasive action to avoid being hit by a throw from fast bowler Steve Harmison.
The laws of cricket state a batsman cannot be run out if he is not attempting a run and taking evasive action to avoid bodily harm.
Speed said the ICC realised that having seven umpires preside over at least 10 Tests and 20 odd one-day internationals in a year was a reasonable workload for a fully professional official.
"But we have to recognise that cricket is the hardest game to umpire. And our aim has been to have the best umpires for the job," he stated.
He pointed out that in 2000, the ICC just had five elite umpires supervising matches but this number had been increased to reduce the workload on them.
"We also supplement the elite panel by the international panel which has two representatives from each member country. We have 20 to 25 supplementary umpires who from time to time also umpire tests and one-day internationals," he stated.
The elite panel includes three Australians, Taufel, Hair and Daryl Harper, Pakistani Aleem Dar, Steve Bucknor of the West Indies, Rudi Koertzen of South Africa and Billy Bowden of New Zealand.
Speed added that the ICC had a system in place to assess the performance of its umpires and there was an independent manager who studied all the reports of match referees and captains and awarded grades to the umpires based on their performance.
