LONDON (REUTERS) - The International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering using Snicko technology in the next Ashes series in Australia, the ruling body's chief executive Dave Richardson told the BBC on Sunday.

The current series between England and Australia has been dogged by controversy surrounding the Decision Review System and there have been problems with the HotSpot technology which is supposed to show whether the ball makes contact with the bat.

"Snicko will probably be the first bit of technology introduced," Richardson said. "It's always been reliable."

Snicko, which uses sound from stump microphones, has not been employed by the third umpire because it causes too much of a delay in decision-making.

"There are different types of Snicko used around the world but the one that was used in this series is what they call a real-time Snicko," Richardson said.

"Without getting too technical it's quite an involved process to make sure the sound gets to you at the same time and is synchronised perfectly with where the ball is."

The first Test of the next Ashes series starts on Nov 21 in Brisbane.