The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to introduce a penalty for overs bowled late.

The governing body said it will experiment by having a stop clock between overs. A penalty of five runs will be imposed on the bowling side if they fail three times in an innings to start the new over within a minute.

The move, which was approved by the chief executives’ committee during its meeting in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, will be restricted to men’s ODIs and T20Is. This will be tested on a “trial basis” between December 2023 and April 2024.

“The clock will be used to regulate the amount of time taken between overs,” the ICC said in a media release. “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.”

Currently the sanction for both formats is: if the fielding team fails to start the final over by the stipulated time, they are docked one fielder from outside the 30-yard
circle. The third umpire, through a timer, regulates the time while accounting for any stoppages, before relaying it to the on-field match officials.

The ICC also said the board has agreed to “changes to the pitch and outfield monitoring regulations, 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”.

U-19 Cup in SA

The ICC has moved the U-19 World Cup to South Africa from Sri Lanka. The decision has been taken by the ICC board in view of the administrative uncertainty in Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

Following deliberations, the board decided to uphold the November 10 decision to suspend the SLC. It said that while cricket involving the Sri Lanka team will continue uninterrupted, the suspension, however, will not be overturned. This means their participation in bilateral and ICC tournaments will not be affected.

SLC, which was suspended on the grounds of government interference, will receive controlled funding from the ICC. The suspended Lankan body will continue to
run the affairs under strict monitoring.