DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies and England will be the first two teams that will trial new regulations to increase the pace of play in their Twenty20 International series that opens tomorrow at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
The ICC, the sport’s world organising body, said yesterday it had added the provision of an electronic clock to speed up the pace of play by penalising instances of time wastage by the fielding side as part of a six-month experiment.
The fielding side is expected to start a new over within 60 seconds of the expiration of the previous over, and an electronic clock, counting down from 60 to zero, will be displayed at the ground.
“The stop clock trial in white ball international cricket follows the introduction of a successful new playing condition in 2022, which resulted in the fielding team only being allowed four fielders outside of the inner circle if they were not in a position to bowl the first ball of their final over in the stipulated time,” ICC General Manager – Cricket, Wasim Khan said.
“The outcomes of the stop clock trial will be assessed at the end of the trial period.”
The ICC said the electronic clock will aim to restrict the amount of time taken between overs.
Failure of the fielding side to be ready to bowl the first ball of their next over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed will attract two warnings, and an eventual five-run penalty.
There are exceptions to the rule, and the clock if started already can be cancelled if a new batsman comes to the crease between overs, an official refreshments break has been called, the umpires have approved on-field treatment of an injury to a batsman or fielder, and the time lost is for any circumstances beyond the control of the fielding side.
The ICC said the third umpire will have the responsibility of determining the starting of the clock, and this will be either when the last ball of the previous over has been called dead or any umpire or player review from the final ball of the previous over has been completed.
If a fielding side is ready to resume within the time, but the batting team is not ready to start, the umpires shall determine if provisions related to batsmen wasting time are applicable to the situation.
