The International Cricket Council, the game’s worldwide governing body, has voted to impose a new rule to limit the duration between overs in men’s one-day international and Twenty20 international cricket. A five-run penalty will be levied the third time a bowling team fails to be ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds of completing the previous one, according to the new rule. The match officials will use a stopwatch to time the time between overs.
The new rule will be in force from December 2023 to April 2024 on a trial basis. “This move is part of a broader effort to improve the pace of the game and enhance the spectator experience,” the ICC said in a statement.
In ODIs and T20Is, an in-match penalty rule for slow over rates was adopted last year. If the fielding team fails to begin the last over within the time limit, they are punished by one fielder from outside the 30-yard circle.
ICC Enacts Reforms: Pitch banning process, monitoring regulations, and U-19 World Cup venue change
The ICC also made changes to its process of banning a pitch from international cricket. “Changes to the pitch and outfield monitoring regulations were also approved, including a simplification of the criteria against which a pitch is assessed and increasing the threshold for when a venue could have its international status removed from five demerit points to six demerit points over a five-year period,” the ICC added.
The ICC board also voted today to move the next year’s men’s Under-19 World Cup from Sri Lanka to South Africa, nearly two weeks after the world-governing organization temporarily suspended the island nation’s cricket body owing to government intervention.
The board also approved a new gender eligibility regulation for women’s cricket, which states that male-to-female participants who have undergone male puberty will be ineligible to compete in international women’s cricket, regardless of any surgical or gender reassignment treatment they may have undergone.
According to ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, the adjustments to the gender eligibility requirements were the result of significant deliberation. “Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players,” he said.
The cricket governing body will review these laws in two years, but at the domestic level, these regulations will remain under the jurisdiction of individual member boards.