The inventor of the Hot Spot thermal imaging replay system has apologised to England for the manner in which Jonathan Trott was given out by the third umpire on the second day of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.
England collapsed to 11 for two in their second innings against Australia yesterday after Joe Root and Trott, out for a duck, fell to successive Mitchell Starc deliveries.
Root chose not to challenge his decision, even though replays suggested he would have been reprieved, as technology indicated he had made no contact with the ball before being caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
Next ball, Pakistani on-field umpire Aleem Dar initially gave Trott not out in reply to Australia's lbw appeal.
Australia challenged his decision and South African third umpire Marais Erasmus overturned Dar's original verdict despite the fact the side on Hot Spot image of the dismissal, which might have confirmed whether Trott had in fact edged the ball first, was not available.
Angry England coach Andy Flower demanded an explanation from match referee Ranjan Madugalle, the International Cricket Council's most senior official, over the lbw dismissal while bowler Jimmy Anderson called it "very frustrating".
Host broadcaster Sky explained the Hot Spot camera missed the Trott wicket as it was replaying Root's exit a ball earlier. Images cannot be replayed and played at the same time.
Meanwhile the inventor of the Hot Spot system apologised for an "operator error".
"Here is the absolute truth from our perspective in regard to the Trott incident," Warren Brennan told the cricinfo website.
"It was operator error. My operator did not trigger the system in order to cater for the Trott delivery.
"Instead the operator sat on the Root delivery in order to offer a replay from the previous ball and did not realise until it was too late that he should have triggered the system for the Trott delivery as the priority.
