The queasy mix of new technology and old attitudes was always likely to provoke conflict in cricket, so perhaps we should not be overly surprised that Hot Spot will not be used during the winter's Ashes series in Australia.

After all, the Indians won't even entertain any recourse to the DRS system, despite their determination to grasp Twenty20 as if it was the answer to all life's problems. In which light, the decision by host broadcaster Channel Nine to ditch the controversial system, which relies on infrared camera technology to detect alleged edges, offers a reminder that sport doesn't always benefit from innovation and certainly not from such an unreliable gizmo as the present Hot Spot.

The mechanism was hailed as a great breakthrough after being devised by BBG Sports in 2007 but it seems to have muddied the waters more than it has clarified matters. Any competent umpire should be capable of adjudging when a batsman has blatantly snicked the ball - although Stuart Broad's survival in the First Test at Trent Bridge this summer made a mockery of that principle - and when it comes down to the wafer-thin edges, the respective captains will still have access to DRS. In short, although mistakes will continue to be made, and particularly while the TV umpire is prevented from communicating with his on-field counterparts in such an instance as occurred with Broad, they should be kept to a minimum.

The sad truth is that Hot Spot did not live up to expectations and it was only a minor irony that its reputation went up in flames during the Ashes heat. Just ask Usman Khawaja, who was given out caught behind by Matt Prior, off the bowling of Graeme Swann, by Tony Hill in the Third Test at Old Trafford. At first glance, it looked a bad decision. Yet, though the subsequent review demonstrated no Hot Spot mark, and no audio evidence, the third umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, upheld Hill's original howler and left the game looking foolish in the process, quite apart from bringing the curtain down on the player's international career for a considerable period, if he ever returns.

If that was embarrassing, so was another ruling by the same pair of officials when Kevin Pietersen was reviewed after being caught behind in Manchester. The verdict was upheld again by Dharmasena, despite nothing showing up on Hot Spot and, while one could point to the failure of many cricketers to uphold the spirit of the game by staying rooted to the crease when they know they have hit the ball, that doesn't excuse the litany of erroneous judgments which plagued the Ashes campaign.

None of the errors would have changed the outcome of the series - the hosts won it 3-0 - but, once sports stars get a bee in their bonnet, their first inclination is to find somebody else to blame. Hot Spot, which is expensive to operate, and prone to lapses, was an obvious target.

It appears that most current and former players back the news that it will not be used when England square up to their rivals in Brisbane on November 21. "I think it's the right decision, because Hot Spot doesn't work very well and often clouds the issue rather than solves it," said BBC pundit Simon Hughes yesterday. "During the Ashes, on several occasions, we could hear edges in our ear-pieces, but Hot Spot showed nothing at all."

In its absence, the TV umpires will be restricted to utilising Eagle Eye ball-tracking software, available audio from stump microphones, and slow-motion reviews from a variety of different angles. Cynics might retort that if they can't do their job with all that assistance at their disposal, they should perhaps seek another line of work. But, of course, with the Aussies desperate to end their miserable sequence of results in 2013 - Zimbabwe have managed more Test wins than them - and England equally determined to keep turning the screw on Michael Clarke's side, we can expect more appeals, more absurd theatricals from the slip cordons, and more abuse from the crowds on the Sydney Hill and elsewhere.

Ultimately, with BBG promising further refinement of their product - Hot Spot's inventor, Warren Brennan, has promised that the system will be continually improved and enhanced - it is only a matter of time before the concept is revived. After all, if you start removing the DRS cogs and ruling them out of the picture, what on earth would the Sky commentators have to talk about for most of the day?