The ECB chairman Giles Clarke is steadfast in his belief England will not meet the costs of the umpire referral system.

Cricket South Africa today confirmed the Test series between England and South Africa this winter will not use the system, following on from the decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India not to use it for the home series against Sri Lanka.

Despite being approved by the International Cricket Council Board and due to be implemented from October 1, these two decisions appear to be a blow to getting the system off the ground.

Clarke told Press Association Sport tonight: "We weren't keen on a referral system, we voted against it.

"The majority felt that it should be used but then the question came of who is going to pay for it?

"We certainly have no intention of paying for it and, if somebody doesn't pay for it, then it won't be used.

"We have consistently said we think it's an unsatisfactory system.

"We lost the vote, comprehensively, and we run a democratic world in cricket, so we've accepted that decision.

"Then the question came of who is going to pay for it? Well, we're not going to.

"Either it's paid for by the broadcaster, or the other side.

"Cricket South Africa don't want to pay and I quite understand why they don't want to pay; it seems the broadcaster doesn't want to pay so, if no-one's going to pay for it, you can't use it.

"I don't think the ICC is going to pay for it in a hurry but I may be wrong."

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India set a precedent when they began their Test series against the Sri Lankans in Ahmedabad yesterday without challenges by technology.

"The Indian board is not very keen on it," BCCI chief executive Ratnakar Shetty told Press Association Sport. "We have made that decision and opted not to use it.

"This is not a problem with the ICC. There's an option as a host country to use the technology but we talked to the players and we have reported back that we are not in favour of it.

"If other countries choose to use it as hosts, then so be it."

India are resigned to abiding by the two challenges per side, per innings in away matches but their players' fury at what they believed was rough justice during their tour of Sri Lanka influenced their stance in the here and now.

England, participating in a one-day contest against South Africa A in Potchefstroom today, were expecting technology to be used and therefore caught unawares.

Coach Andy Flower was this week due to discuss the issue with Hugh Morris, managing director England Cricket, but any talks now appear to be redundant.

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The new system was originally anticipated to be a feature of last summer's Ashes but the ICC postponed the original start date until the autumn to allow umpires more time to understand the concept and for the technology to be fine-tuned.

Under the scheme, players can request an umpire's decision to be reviewed by a third official using TV pictures - with the proviso that two unsuccessful challenges in an innings ends a team's chance to contest.

A margin of error has now been factored into the system to avoid borderline decisions and time limits on making a challenge are to be policed more strictly by officials after the process proved inconsistent and laborious in the West Indies-England contests.

However, the ICC now appear to be fighting a losing battle to launch the revamped version.

Nevertheless, they remain hopeful it will be in place for Test series between Australia and West Indies and New Zealand and Pakistan in the coming weeks.

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