The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday had approved a series of rule changes in international cricket that will come into effect from October 1, 2017 . It approved all the recommendations made by the ICC Cricket Committee in May, in areas related to bat sizes and the Decision Review System (DRS), to name a few. Here are the rule changes:
DRS and umpire’s call
A team will not lose a review for when an ‘umpire’s call’ verdict comes into play. What does ‘umpire’s call’ mean? This concept affects leg before wicket (LBW) decisions. When an LBW decision is reviewed, the benefit of the doubt goes to the on-field umpire’s original decision. Therefore, the television umpire would have to uphold the on-field judgment if projections show half the ball hitting a zone that stretches from the outside edge of the off stump to the outside edge of the leg stump. This is the margin of error afforded to the "umpire's call". Ball-tracking technology can never be 100% in determining whether the ball would have hit the stumps or not, or shaved it. Therefore, the on-field umpire's call is important.
Now, the ICC has decided that if a lbw review comes with the verdict of ‘umpire’s call’, then it would not be fair to penalise the team that called for the review. If technology cannot reach a decisive verdict, then why should the team suffer?
Now to balance things out a bit, teams will not have their reviews topped up at the 80-over mark in an innings in a Test match. As per the current arrangement, each team is allowed two unsuccessful reviews in an innings in a Test for the first 80 overs. So if Team A has two reviews available and the captain uses one and if they are not successful, the team loses a review. At the 80-over mark, the reviews are reset to two till the end of the innings. From October 1, though, the top-ups will stop.
DRS will now be used in Twenty20 internationals as well.
The committee also agreed on minimum standards for the use of DRS in international cricket, with mandatory use of ball-tracking and edge-detection technology.
Restrictions on bat sizes
The trend of high scores, especially in one-day international cricket, causing an imbalance between bat and ball has been an area of concern for the ICC. The thickness of bats is one of the main reasons for batsmen enjoying an unfair advantage over the bowlers. Bats will now be limited to 108mm in width, 67mm in depth with 40mm edges .
Sending players off
Similar to the red-card penalty in football, umpires will have the power to send players off the field for serious incidents of misconduct, such as violence on the field. All other offences would continue to be dealt with under the ICC Code of Conduct.
Run-out rule change
A batsman cannot be adjudged run out if his bat bounces after being grounded behind the crease. Take this scenario. A batsman stretches his bat out and it crosses the crease, but when the stumps are broken, his bat happens to be in the air and no part of his body is behind the crease, or the ‘safe zone’. As per the current rules, he is run out. But come October 1, he cannot be ruled run out. He is deemed safe. In other words, he is being rewarded for making his ground before the stumps are broken.
