In deciding to maintain the existing balance between umpiring and technology, the ICC's cricket-playing committee has predictably adopted a "wait and see" policy on lbw decisions. That is despite the introduction of the Hawkeye tracking system on Channel 4 in England during last week's First Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's.

Despite its mixed reception, Hawkeye's Test career made a solid start. The few decisions with which it disagreed were marginal, and it didn't embarrass the umpires, as some of its detractors had feared. In the same game, the Snickometer (Hawkeye's more seasoned stable-mate) confirmed one decision – by Peter Willey to send back Inzamam in Pakistan's second innings – as a brilliant one. Umpires will never be 100% infallible, but the mistakes made at Lord's were reassuringly few.

Since the experiments in World Series Cricket in the late 1970s, the march of technology has accelerated relentlessly. The introduction of a third umpire for run-out decisions, made possible by the proliferation of camera angles, was bemoaned at the time by traditionalists, who took the view that to take any decision out of the hands of the umpires on the pitch was a profanity. But it seems inconceivable now that the old order can return, and if the reliability of systems like Hawkeye can be proven over the longer term, the balance of power will shift further from pitch to pavilion.

In the meantime, and not unreasonably, the ICC has decided to wait before assessing the merits of the new "elite" Test umpiring panel that takes over in less than a year's time. It has also taken account of the speed of technological development by agreeing to review the matter regularly.

England's twilight win over Pakistan at Karachi last December, on a ground where floodlights were installed but couldn't be used, must surely have prompted the approval of the mandatory use of lights to allow play to continue in conditions when natural light would prevent it. And the use of a five-run penalty for disciplinary breaches of the laws of cricket is to be applauded.

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