Dubai, Jun 27: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a set of changes in regard to the use of balls in ODIs, boundary catches and concussion replacements for both Test and white-ball formats. One of the most significant being, in efforts to fasten the pace of the game and over rates, a stop clock to speed up the longest format.

The stop clock, already tried successfully in white-ball cricket, now become a permanent feature in Tests. Fielding sides will be required to begin a new over within 60 seconds of completing the previous one. Failure to comply will lead to penalties, two warnings per innings, followed by a five-run penalty for every subsequent breach. These warnings will reset after every 80 overs, in line with the availability of a new ball.

This change is designed to reduce delays and encourage faster over rates, a long-standing concern in Test cricket.

In One Day Internationals, the use of two balls will be limited to the first 34 overs. The fielding team will then select one of those balls for the final 16 overs.

New rules stipulate that any fielder making airborne contact with the ball beyond the boundary must land entirely within the field of play to complete a catch. If they step out and leap again, they may only make contact with the ball once more before landing inside the field.

Teams must now pre-nominate concussion substitutes. Additionally, a player diagnosed with a concussion must observe a minimum seven-day stand-down before returning to play.

In an effort to provide leniency for a bowler who sees the batter moving around prior or during a delivery, a new wide ball rule will be trialled in white-ball formats.

As part of the changes, the position of the batter’s legs at the point of delivery will now be used as the reference point for a wide, even if the batter subsequently moves across to the off side.

The trial will see a ball that passes the popping crease between the leg stump and the protected area marker not being called a Wide. To help with this, the protected area marker line will be extended to the popping crease and act as a guide for the umpires.

Any leg-side delivery that passes behind the batter’s legs and outside of the line at the time the ball reaches the popping crease may still be called a Wide.

Previously, a wide had been called for a delivery that would not have been called wide if the batter had retained their normal batting position.

The Decision Review System Zone (DRS) will now use the actual physical outline of the stumps and bails as the wicket zone, making LBW decisions more precise.

Adding to the present five-run penalty for a deliberate short run, the fielding team will also choose which of the two batters takes strike for the next delivery.

In domestic first-class cricket, a player who suffers a serious injury on the field of play at any time after the match has started (including any pre-match warm-up period) may be replaced for the remainder of the match by a fully participating like-for-like player.

The new Test regulations are already in effect, having debuted in the Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Test on June 17.

The new playing conditions for ODIs and T20Is will commence during the same Sri Lanka against Bangladesh series, with the first of three ODIs from July 2, and a three-match T20I series from July 10. All Test, ODI and T20I matches after these dates will be played under the new playing conditions.

(IANS)

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