From new run-out regulations to pink ball trials in Tests: ICC’s revised playing conditions

In what was a major announcement in the last 24 hours, ICC revised a few of its playing conditions and one of them would have a major impact on the fielders and how they affect a run-out. Well, that is just one of the changes that cricket from now on will be witnessing with the other being batters risking a five-run penalty if they tend to waste time.

Here is a quick list of the revisions made by the ICC to the existing playing conditions:

·      Batters can be now slapped with a five-run penalty if they are found wasting time on three occasions in a single innings.

·      Women’s cricket now has a distinctly specified cricket ball size.

·      Pink balls are now available in day time if the two captains agree to the same ahead of the Test. This has been done in order to avert stoppages due to bad light. If the pink ball has been agreed to be taken once, then the entire game will have to be played with the same.

·      A wicket in the final over of the day in multi-day matches doesn’t mean that it will automatically end play.

One of the major changes to the existing rules in modern-day cricket is how the batters will have to be wary about the time-wasting factor. As per the ICC release, it states, “If a batter is not ready to face the ball within the prescribed time, a warning will be issued for the first offence, a final warning for the second, and five penalty runs awarded to the fielding side for the third and each subsequent offence."

Prescribed time has been defined as ‘largely the amount of time that takes a fielding team and bowler to get ready for the next delivery. When the bowler is at the top of their approach, the batter is generally expected to be ready to receive the delivery. The main exception is when a dismissal has occurred, in which case the batter is given two minutes to enter the field and prepare for their first ball, or risk being timed out.’

However, before any of this happens, batters will usually get two warnings from the bowler’s end umpire before the runs are docked. Condition 41.10.3 of the playing conditions now read: If the striker is not ready as required in 41.10.2 and so delays play:

• On the first such occasion in an innings, the bowler's end umpire shall issue a warning to the striker and inform the non-striker, and each incoming batter, the captain of the fielding side and the other umpire of what has occurred.
• On the second occasion in an innings, the above sequence is repeated, but with the reminder that this is a final warning.
• On the third and any subsequent occasion in an innings, the bowler's end umpire shall award five (5) Penalty runs to the fielding side, informing the batters, the captain of the fielding side and the other umpire