Image Credit- AP
The Indian Cricket Board (ICC) has announced that it
will test the use of a stop clock in between overs as a drastic measure to
control play speed. If the bowling team fails to begin the new over within a
minute three times in an innings, they will be penalised five runs.
Approved by the Chief Executives Committee, the
measure will only apply to men’s ODIs and T20Is and will be evaluated for six
months, from December of this year to April of 2024, on a “trial
basis”. This will be used for the first time in the forthcoming
three-match ODI series between England and the West Indies, which kicks off on
December 3.
“The clock will be used to regulate the amount of
time taken between overs,” the ICC said in a media release on Tuesday.
“If the bowling team is not ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds
of the previous over being completed, a five-run penalty will be imposed the
third time it happens in an innings.”
To counter slow over rates, the ICC implemented an
in-match penalty in both men’s and women’s ODI and T20I cricket in 2022. As of
right now, the rules for both formats state that the fielding team will be
docked one fielder from beyond the 30-yard circle if they are unable to begin
the final over before the designated time.
The third umpire uses a timer to keep track of the
time and account for any stops before sending it to the match officials on the
pitch. Earlier this year, during the June–July World Cup Qualifiers, the
regulation was introduced for both T20Is and ODIs. In addition to the financial
penalties that teams must pay for sluggish over rates under ICC rules, this
discipline is imposed.
In sports, stop clocks are not new; tennis, for
example, uses a “shot clock,” giving players 25 seconds to prepare to
serve in between rallies. In 2018, the MCC World Cricket Committee also
proposed the’shot clock’ as a means of addressing slow over rates in all three
formats. The MCC committee, which was composed of former international captains
Kumar Sangakkara, Sourav Ganguly, and Ricky Ponting, had suggested that the
“shot clock” be utilised during a game’s “dead time.”