ICC Cricket Rule Changes: An Analysis - Part II

Continuing from the first part of the analysis of the ICC rule-changes here, this is the second part.

Captains to be suspended after two over-rate transgressions in a year instead of three

As the jingle goes, ‘I am lovin’ it’. This was a rule that was abused at will by the captains and invariably, they got away. As a result, there were slower over-rates, which meant that the matches took much more time to finish off than the stipulation and a minor fine or a reprimand was all that the captains got.

By reducing the allowance to only one such transgression every year, before the second one would lead to an automatic ban, the captains would now be much more cautious than before.

It is like a yellow card in soccer; the player needs to be wary of committing a similar offence in the next game in the tournament lest he be banned.

Batsmen to be dismissed obstructing the field if they change their course while running to prevent a run-out chance:

While this makes for logical thinking, what still remains a question is how the umpires will adjudicate on such calls. Currently, the batsmen are allowed to change their direction in order to protect the stumps while running between the wickets, unless they tried to use their bat or hands or any other equipment or body to deflect the ball. More clarity will be required on this from the ICC to ensure that freak dismissals at crucial stages in the game do not result from the ensuing ambiguity.

Bowlers will be allowed to run out a non-striker backing up unfairly

This was a long time coming. Currently, the bowlers cannot use ‘Mankading’ as a way to run the non-strikers out but with the change in this rule, the bowlers will be able to run the non-strikers out before delivering the ball if he has backed up too much from the crease. The batsmen had abused this rule by standing outside the crease – and in some cases, even running towards the batsmen – even before the bowlers had delivered the ball. The farcical rule has now been changed.

(Vinoo Mankad was the first bowler to have run a batsman out before he had delivered the ball, which is how the name Mankaded or Mankading came around. Australia’s Bill Brown was the batsman)

14 teams in World Cup 2015

The Associate nations will be heaving a sigh of relief. According to their earlier decision, the ICC had zeroed upon having 10 countries fight it out for the World Cup for the 2015 edition of the tournament. What made the decision ludicrous was that there were supposed to be no qualifiers – the ten Test-playing nations would take up those slots, effectively shutting the Associates out.

Hell broke loose and the ICC has had to break a hasty retreat, ensuring that there will be 10 Test-playing sides and four Associate qualifiers making it through to the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

There will be 10 teams for the 2019 edition of the tournament though, with a qualifier to decide on the last two or three slots.

As a result of allowing the Associates back, the number of teams in the World T20 in 2012 and 2014 will be cut back from 16 to 12.