Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland has called for an explanation from the International Cricket Council over the Usman Khawaja dismissal howler that has further dented players' faith in the Ashes series umpiring.

Sutherland was the second high-ranking Australian official to make his concern public, although he was far more diplomatic than Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in the Twittersphere.

CA's complaint to cricket's international governing body marks the second time this series that teams have demanded clarification on mystifying decisions by umpires.

The first was by an England side filthy at Jonathan Trott's dismissal in the first test.

Asked whether players had lost confidence in the process, Australian opener Chris Rogers, who was down the other end when Khawaja was given out on the opening day of the third test at Old Trafford, stopped short of answering yes and risking a fine.

But his admission - "Umm, it's a hard one to answer" - said it all.

Khawaja was given out by both the on-field umpire and the third official in the box, despite no evidence on HotSpot, the stump microphone or the replays to support the decision.

Sutherland said he was "duty bound" to seek an explanation on how the decision system had been misused so badly.

"In our view, the on-field decision and referred decision using DRS were both incorrect," Sutherland said.

The Prime Minister didn't waste a single character in a very un-politician-like tweet. "I've just sat down to watch the test. That was one of the worst cricket umpiring decisions I have ever seen. KRudd."

He was retweeted 2885 times.

- AAP