Latest news with #playingconditions
Khaleej Times
28-06-2025
- Sport
- Khaleej Times
ICC announces new cricket rules as playing conditions change across formats
The International Cricket Council announced new rules for playing conditions across the Test, ODI and T20I formats. These changes range from ball usage to concussion replacements, and were recommended by the ICC Men's Cricket Committee, headed by Sourav Ganguly. The new playing conditions commenced with the first match of the new World Test Championship on June 17, played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh The new playing conditions for ODIs and T20Is will commence during the same Sri Lanka against Bangladesh series, with the first of three ODIs from July 2, and a three-match T20I series from July 10. Here are a list of the changes that have been introduced: Stop clock After a successful introduction in white-ball cricket, Test cricket will also see a stop clock. This means after 1 over is completed, the bowling team needs to be ready to bowl the first ball of their next over within 60 seconds. Failure to do so for the third time in an innings (following two warnings) will result in a five-run penalty imposed against the fielding team on each occasion. Two warning sanctions will be reset to zero after 80 overs have passed, in line with a new ball becoming available, and again after any future blocks of 80 overs in that innings. Number of balls per ODI innings Two new balls will be used for the first 34 overs of an ODI innings. After this, the fielding team will choose one of the balls for the remaining overs. Boundary catches A fielder who makes airborne contact with the ball beyond the boundary must then land and remain inside the boundary. A fielder, after making their first contact with the ball subsequently leaves the field of play, can only make contact with the ball once more while airborne beyond the boundary. Having done so, they must land and remain wholly within the boundary. This applies even if another player completes the fielding. This change will be implemented in international cricket before it is included in the MCC Laws of Cricket next year. Deliberate short runs Adding to the present five-run penalty for a deliberate short run, the fielding team will also choose which of the two batters takes strike for the next delivery. DRS wicket zone The wicket zone will now be the actual outline of the stumps and bails. Concussion protocols Teams will now be required to nominate their designated concussion replacements for the match. This curbs the advantage previously held by home teams, who have typically been able to choose from a larger pool of potential replacements. A player diagnosed with a concussion during a match must observe a minimum stand-down period of a minimum of seven days before returning to play. This change has been recommended by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee to support players' safety and well-being. Further changes to be trialled In addition to these changes, additional ones will be implemented from October 2025 for an initial 6-month period. Replacement players (domestic first-class cricket) A player who suffers a serious injury on the field of play at any time after the match has started (including any pre-match warm-up period) may be replaced for the remainder of the match by a fully participating like-for-like player. Wide Ball Trial (ODI and T20I cricket) The position of the batter's legs at the point of delivery will now be used as the reference point for a wide, even if the batter subsequently moves across to the off side. A ball that passes the popping crease between the leg stump and the protected area marker will not be called a wide. To help with this, the protected area marker line will be extended to the popping crease and act as a guide for the umpires. Any leg side delivery that passes behind the batter's legs and outside of the line at the time the ball reaches the popping crease may still be called a wide. Previously, a wide had been called for a delivery that would not have been called wide if the batter had retained their normal batting position.
Times of Oman
27-06-2025
- Sport
- Times of Oman
Stop clock for Tests, no ball change after use of saliva: New changes to playing conditions approved by ICC
New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved several changes to playing conditions recently for men's international cricket, including the Boundary Law and one-ball rule in ODIs from the 35th over. While come of these rules have already come into force during the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27, the rules for white-ball formats will come in effect from July 2 onwards. ESPNCricinfo looks at the notable changes introduced across three formats, having reviewed the playing conditions shared by the world cricket governing body with its member bodies recently. -Introduction of Stop Clock in Tests A year after the introduction of the rule in limited-overs cricket, the ICC has decided to bring it in red-ball cricket, where slow-over-rates have been a massive problem for years. As per the rule, the fielding side is supposed to start an over within 60 seconds of the last one ending. Two warnings will be given on failure to do so, and another failure would result in a five-run penalty on the bowling team. The warnings will be reset to zero after each block worth 80 overs. The rule has come into effect during the ongoing 2025-27 WTC cycle. -No mandatory ball change on deliberate usage of saliva While the saliva ban continues in international cricket since COVID-19, the mandatory ball change by umpires in case of saliva being found on the ball is no longer compulsory. This change is made to prevent teams from changing the balls by deliberately applying saliva to them. Going forward, the condition of the ball will help in deciding if the ball is to be changed or not. If it appears too wet or these is more shine. This decision has been completely left to the umpires. If the ball starts doing things after umpires saying that application of saliva has not changed its condition, it would not be replaced. The batting team would, however, be given five penalty runs. -DRS protocol for secondary review after an out decision Imagine a situation when a batter has been given out caught behind, and he demands a review. The UltraEdge shows the ball brushing the pads without any contact with the bat. With the catch ruled out, the TV umpire checks for second dismissal mode via ball tracking, whether he is lbw or not. So far, the protocol was, once the batter was given 'not out caught', the default decision for the second mode of dismissal, lbw, would be not out. This means, if the ball tracking led to an "umpire's call" verdict, the batter would remain not out. But in now's updated rule, when the ball tracking is displayed, the original decision label on it would be reading "out" and if the review yields an umpire call, the batter would be ruled out. -Combined reviews, decisions will be chronological If in case, there is a player review and an umpire review for separate modes of dismissal on the same ball, "the incidents shall be addressed in chronological order". Earlier, the TV umpire used to assess the umpire reviews before moving on to the review asked for by a player. Now, the revised playing condition reads, "If the conclusion from the first incident is that a batter is dismissed, then the ball would be deemed to have become dead at that point, rendering investigation of the second incident unnecessary". So now, if there is an appeal for lbw and run out, the TV umpire would first take up the lbw review since it occurred first. In case batter is out, then the ball would be declared dead and review for run out would not be done. -Fairness of catch to be reviewed for no-ball As per Wisden, the TV umpire will check for the fairness of a catch even after a no-ball from the bowler. Earlier, if no ball was signalled by the third umpire, the fairness of the catch was not checked. But now, it will be. If the catch is fair, the batting team will get one extra run for a no-ball, and if it is unfair, the batting team will get the runs taken by the batters. -Deliberate short run In case a batter has been caught taking a short run, five runs are shaved off the batting team's total. Now, as per updated rules, if one of the batters does not make their ground deliberately for the sake of stealing an extra run, the umpires would ask the fielding team to decide which batter they want to be on strike. The five-run penalty will continue. "A deliberate short run is an attempt for batters to appear to run more than one run, while at least one batter deliberately does not make good their ground at one end," Rule 18.5.1 of the playing conditions says. "Batters may choose to abort a run, provided the umpire believes that there was no intention by the batter concerned to deceive the umpires or to score the run in which they did not make their ground," the rule added. -Full-time playing replacement in domestic first-class cricket To compensate for the loss of a player who has suffered a serious external injury, the ICC has requested that cricket boards trial a full-time replacement player in their domestic first-class matches. This replacement player will be like-for-like, similar to a concussion substitute. The injury will have to be evident and visible for match officials before a decision is taken. It would not be applicable to hamstring pulls or niggles.
