The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come up with a new rule to counter the slow over rate during the matches, where earlier, only the captains were penalized for the slow over rate during the matches. This decision was taken at the ICC Annual Conference in London. The law states that from now on, captains will no longer be suspended for repeated or over-rate breaches.
Before the new rule, only the captains of the respective teams were fined and came under the scanner, putting them in the danger zone which could go up to a match suspension if the mistake was repeated more than twice.
This decision was taken by ICC just after the conclusion of the World Cup 2019 to curb the strings of the repeated slow over rates by the teams.
However, this rule can be considered a bit strict towards the whole team as it will cite punishment to all the players equally, including the captain.
New Zealand skipper came under the scanner in the just concluded World Cup tournament where he was on the verge of suspension. This happened during a group stage game against West Indies. Kane Williamson was fined 20% of his match fees along with a 10 percent fine for his teammates after match referee David Boon stated that they bowled one over short of the target.
ICC released a statement saying, “Captains will no longer be suspended for repeated or serious over-rate breaches. All players should be held equally responsible for slow over rates, and as such will be fined at the same level as the captain,”
“In World Test Championship matches a team that is behind the required over the rate at the end of a match will have two competition points deducted for each over it is behind.”
This rule would certainly bring in an improvement in cricket as all the players will play with a due responsibility to finish the games on time, which then makes it more fan-friendly as well.
The Rule in Simple Words States:
- Captains will no longer be suspended for repeated or serious over-rate breaches.
- All the players should be held equally responsible for slow over rates, and as such will be fined at the same level as the captain.
- In World Test Championship matches, a team that is behind the required over-rate at the end of a match will have two competition points deducted for each over it is behind.
The rule will be implemented with the immediate effect. As the Ashes series is starting from August 1st, it will be interesting to see how the new rule changes affect the game-play. With ICC T20I World Cup also set to arrive in the coming months, the introduction of the new rule would certainly help especially in shorter formats where actions take place fast.
Further, ICC also added to the statement in the recommendation of Cricket Committee that will research into the use of replays to call no-balls, with trials set to be conducted in the coming months.
Like to like replacement for concussion has also been set into effect from August 1.
“Decisions on replacements will continue to be made by the team medical representative and the player should be a like-for-like replacement who will need to be approved by the Match Referee,” an ICC release stated.
