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Journalism of Courage
LONDON, July 14: The International Cricket Council (ICC) while significantly curtailing the volume of international cricket today announced some major changes in playing conditions with a nod to the use of floodlights in Test cricket when poor visibility threatened to disrupt play.
David Richards, chief executive of the ICC, briefing reporters after the first ever meeting of Test captains and its cricket committee at the weekend said the use of artificial lights would be allowed providing both countries agree to the same before Test series and without any change in hours of play for day and night Test cricket.
The ICC also responded positively to persistent complaints by players that there was “too much cricket” and put a limit on each country to playing no more than ten to 12 Test matches and 25 to 30 one-day internationals per year.
Other major decisions taken were to allow the practice of bowling two short pitch deliveries per over in Test cricket and the use the third umpire television replay system by two umpires to decide whether or not a catch had been cleanly taken.
Elaborating on allowing third umpire decisions on doubtful cases of close catches, Richards said, “if the bowling umpire is uncertain as to whether the ball carried, he will follow the normal practice of consulting the square leg umpire.Only if both agree, then only can they signal for a TV replay decision. The ICC has made it mandatory to have one absorbent roller in order to expedite the resumption of play after heavy rains as part of its aim to standardise equipment on all cricket grounds used as venues for international events.
It has also been decided to not to impose over-rate fines if a side was dismissed in 50 overs or less in Test matches or in 35 overs in one-day internationals. “This recognises the difficulty of meeting the average of 15 over per hour with only fast bowlers in operation through such short innings and the fall of all wickets,” he said.
“Captain and cricket committee members are concerned at the general decline throughout the world in standard of pitches, especially for Test cricket”, Richards said adding that this issue would be raised with respective boards as a matter of priority.
The ICC chief executives called the captains conclave as, “a very fruitful exercise. The meeting produced excellent results on a number of issues pertaining to cricket.” He said the captains and cricket committee members wanted “ideally to include a eight-week break to allowed players to recharge mentally and overcome minor injuries”.
He said all these decisions would be discussed by the executive committee of the ICC at its meeting in Calcutta in December this year. This would be the first ever meeting of the ICC executive council outside the Lord’s cricket ground.
Nine Test playing captains — Sachin Tendulkar (India), Hansie Cronje (South Africa), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Alistair Campbell (Zimbabwe), Mark Taylor (Australia), Michael Atherton (England), Courtney Walsh (West Indies), Stephen Fleming (New Zealand) and Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka) — had met on Friday at Lords cricket ground.The Test captains, before this had only met formally once before during the political imbroglio that preceded the World Cup 18 months ago.
The changes made in the playing conditions would be effective from September 1, 1997.
