England have accepted Pakistan's proposal to have neutral umpires for this year's One-Day International series in Pakistan.
"We have got a written confirmation from the ECB (England's cricket board) today saying they have no objections to the appointment of only neutral umpires for the matches," Pakistan Cricket Board's Saleem Altaf said on Tuesday.
Under International Cricket Council rules, only one third-country umpire is required to stand in a one-dayer while the other umpire comes from the home country.
Altaf said Pakistan's wish to experiment with neutral umpires in the five one-dayers, scheduled in October-November, was a bid to reduce the number of mistakes made by umpires in international matches.
England is due to tour Pakistan from October 15, playing three Tests and five one-day matches. The itinerary is yet to be announced after ECB objections to playing a Test in the southern port city of Karachi.
"We are very happy that England has responded positively to our proposal for neutral umpires. It will be a trend-setting move," Altaf, the PCB's director of cricket operations, said.
Altaf said the ICC had already said it had no objections in Pakistan experimenting with neutral umpires. At present the ICC appoints third-country umpires for all Test matches.
