Dubai : The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced changes to several rules of the game. The changed rules will come into effect from October 1. The rules have been changed after the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) ratified the recommendations of the Sourav Ganguly-led Men’s Cricket Committee.
Speaking on the occasion, Sourav Ganguly said, “It was an honor to chair my first meeting of the ICC Cricket Committee. I was pleased with the contribution of the committee members which resulted in important recommendations. I thank all the members for their valuable inputs and suggestions.
The new rules are as follows-
New batsman will bat when caught out
According to the new ICC rules, when caught out, only the new batsman will bat, according to the old rule, if the edge was changed during the catch, then the non-striker batsman batted while the new batsman was at the bowling end.
Permanent ban on use of saliva to polish the ball
A permanent ban has been imposed on the use of saliva to polish the ball. Earlier this ban was temporarily imposed in international cricket for more than two years due to Covid.
Batsman has 2 minutes to strike
A batsman coming to bat will now have to be ready to take a strike within two minutes in Tests and ODIs, while the current limit of ninety seconds has been retained in T20 International cricket.
Right of batsman to play the ball
If a ball falls off the pitch, then under the new rule he will also be allowed to play a shot on the ball. But the batsman’s bat or part of his body remains inside the pitch. If he overtakes it, the umpire will call it a dead ball. Any ball on which the batsman is forced to leave the pitch and play a shot will be awarded a no ball.
Provision of punishment for wrongful movement of the player
If a player, who is fielding makes a wrong movement, then he is now declared a dead ball and the batsman’s shot is canceled. Now what is going to change in this. If this movement is done intentionally by the player, then five runs will be given as penalty to the batsman.
Some other major decisions: In-match penalties, introduced in T20 Internationals in January 2022 (whereby if a fielding team fails to bowl its overs by the stipulated end time, an additional fielder is assigned to the fielding circle for the remaining over – is brought in), will now be adopted in ODIs after the completion of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League in 2023.
It was also decided that the conditions of play for all men’s and women’s ODI and T20 matches would be amended so that hybrid pitches could be used if agreed by both the teams. Currently, hybrid pitches can only be used in Women’s T20 Internationals.
The members included in the ICC Cricket Committee are: Sourav Ganguly (Chairman); Ramiz Raja (observer); Mahela Jayawardene and Roger Harper (previous players); Daniel Vettori and VVS Laxman (current players’ representatives); Gary Stead (Member Team Coach Representative); Jay Shah (Full Member Representative); Joel Wilson (umpire representative); Ranjan Madugalle (ICC Chief Referee); Jamie Cox (MCC Rep); Kyle Coetzer (Associate Representative); Sean Pollock (media representative); Greg Barkley and Geoff Allardyce (ex-officio – ICC President and Chief Executive); Clive Hitchcock (committee secretary); David Kendix (statistician).