The Indian Cricket Board (ICC) has announced that it will test the use of a stop clock in between overs as a drastic measure to control play speed. If the bowling team fails to begin the new over within a minute three times in an innings, they will be penalized five runs.
Approved by the Chief Executives Committee, the measure will only apply to men’s ODIs and T20Is and will be evaluated for six months, from December of this year to April of 2024, on a “trial basis”. This will be used for the first time in the forthcoming three-match ODI series between England and the West Indies, which kicks off on December 3.
The ICC stated in a media release on Tuesday that “the clock will be used to regulate the amount of time taken between overs.” “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.”
To counter slow over rates, the ICC implemented an in-match penalty in both men’s and women’s ODI and T20I cricket in 2022. As of right now, the rules for both formats state that the fielding team will be docked one fielder from beyond the 30-yard circle if they are unable to begin the final over before the designated time.
The third umpire uses a timer to keep track of the time and account for any stops before sending it to the match officials on the field. Earlier this year, during the June–July World Cup Qualifiers, the regulation was introduced for both T20Is and ODIs. In addition to the financial penalties that teams must pay for sluggish over rates under ICC rules, this discipline is imposed.
In sports, stop clocks are not new; tennis, for example, uses a “shot clock,” giving players 25 seconds to prepare to serve in between rallies. In 2018, the MCC World Cricket Committee also proposed the’shot clock’ as a means of addressing slow over rates in all three formats. The MCC committee, which was included of former international captains Kumar Sangakkara, Sourav Ganguly, and Ricky Ponting, had suggested that the “shot clock” be utilized during a game’s “dead time.”
At the time, Ponting had stated that the clock would not be running during an over. “Because it’s dead time in the game, fielders and bowlers must return to position and be prepared to bowl at a specific time after the end of the over. That cannot be negotiated. The bowling squad must be prepared when the new batsman arrives at the crease and has a set amount of time to become settled in.
