ICC Introduced New Playing Condition
New Conditions imposed from 28th September
Batsmen punishment, Size of Bat
DRS in T20 also implemented
Current Line (Lahore)
The significant changes include restriction on dimensions of the bat, the introduction of player send-offs for misconduct and changes to the Decision Review System.
the Official ICC release implement the changes in the following way,
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has introduced a number of changes to its playing conditions which will be effective in all series starting 28 September or later.
The significant changes include a restriction on the dimensions of the bat, the introduction of player send-offs for misconduct and changes to the Decision Review System, all of which will commence from the two upcoming Test series – when South Africa hosts Bangladesh and the one between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.
The ICC playing conditions will now incorporate the relevant clauses from the MCC Laws of Cricket (2017 Code), meaning that all the playing regulations will be captured in one document for each format.
ICC General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice: “Most of the changes to the ICC playing conditions are being made as a result of changes to the Laws of Cricket that have been announced by the MCC. We have just completed a workshop with the umpires to ensure they understand all of the changes and we are now ready to introduce the new playing conditions to international matches.”
To maintain the balance between bat and ball, the playing conditions now restrict the size of the edges of the bats as well as their thickness.
The restriction on the length and width of bats remain unchanged but the thickness of the edges can’t be more than 40mm and the overall depth can be 67 mm at the most. Umpires will be issued with a new bat gauge, which they can use to check a bat’s legality.
In a new playing condition pertaining to players’ conduct, a player can now be sent off the field for the rest of the match for any serious misconduct, meaning it will apply to Level 4 offences while the Level 1 to 3 offences will continue to be dealt with under the ICC Code of Conduct.
Threatening to assault an umpire, making inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with an umpire, physically assaulting a player or any other person and committing any other act of violence all constitute Level 4 offences.
The above changes will be applicable across all formats, as will be a change in the DRS rules by which a review will now not be lost in case of a decision that remains unchanged, solely as the result of an ‘umpire’s call’.
As for DRS in Test matches, there will be no more top-up reviews after 80 overs of an innings, meaning that there can only be two unsuccessful reviews in each innings, while the DRS will now also be allowed to be used in T20Is.