ICC’s New Rules Reach Pakistan – Here is What Changes

LAHORE: Cricket’s rule book changed on October 1, and Pakistan will be among the first teams to play by the new one. The three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka starts in Rawalpindi on Friday, and every match in it will be played under the International Cricket Council’s revised playing conditions.

The changes cover all three formats. Some are small clarifications. A few could decide matches.

The biggest change is for batters who take too long. If a batter is not ready to face the ball in the allowed time, he gets a warning. A second offence brings a final warning. For the third, and every one after it, the fielding side gets five runs. The warnings start again with each new innings. A batter who keeps doing it can also be charged under the Code of Conduct.

In a T20 match, five runs can be the difference between winning and losing. Batters who like to step away from the crease to settle themselves will have to be careful.

Two other changes apply to one-day and T20 matches. The head coach, or someone he names, can now come onto the field during the drinks break. And the new rule on leg-side wides, which was on trial, is now permanent.

Three changes clear up old arguments. For a run-out or a stumping, the fielder must now have full control of the ball. Touching the ball as it hits the stumps is not enough.

An overthrow now means a throw aimed at the stumps to stop runs or run a batter out. A simple misfield does not count. Umpires also get more freedom to decide when the ball has finally come to rest, and it no longer has to be in the hands of the bowler or wicketkeeper. The ICC says this can matter a great deal on the last ball of a close game.

In Tests, a pink ball can now be used in daytime matches, as a trial, to cut the time lost to bad light. Both teams must agree before the match, and the choice cannot be changed once play begins.

This one should interest Pakistan. Winter Tests in Pakistan are often cut short by fading light. In the 2022-23 season, both Karachi Tests against New Zealand ended in poor light with a result still possible. Pakistan also knows the pink ball well. Azhar Ali scored a triple century with it in Dubai in 2016, in the first day-night Test played in Asia.

There is a catch. A visiting team that does not fancy the pink ball can simply say no.

One more Test change, including if a wicket falls in the last over of the day, play will go on until the over is finished. The ICC’s reasoning is simple. Stopping early saves no time, because the balls have to be bowled the next morning anyway, and carrying on rewards the fielding side.

Balls used in women’s and junior cricket have often been the same ball. Now there are three separate standards for size and weight, for men, women and juniors. Pakistan’s women will play with the new ball in their next series.

The changes came from the ICC’s Men’s and Women’s Cricket Committees. Sourav Ganguly, who chairs the men’s committee, said they include measures “aimed at improving the pace of the game”.

There is no Pakistani on the men’s committee. India has two members on it, and the ICC’s chairman and chief executive, both Indian, sit on it because of their posts. Pakistan’s only voice in the process is on the women’s committee, where former captain Sana Mir is a player representative.

That matters to Pakistani fans at a time when relations between the two boards are poor. Only last month, India refused to take the Women’s Asia Cup trophy from PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi.

The new rules arrive as Pakistan start again. On Monday the PCB named its squads for the home season. Sahibzada Farhan, who led the side at the Asian Games, will captain the T20 team against Sri Lanka on October 9, 11 and 13. Shaheen Shah Afridi stays as one-day captain for a tri-series with England and Sri Lanka. It runs from October 18 in Rawalpindi to the final at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on October 31.

Babar Azam is in the one-day squad. Mohammad Rizwan is in neither. He and Imam-ul-Haq were sent home after the collapse at Lord’s in August.

Away from the national team, the PCB has opened 20 regional under-19 academies, and it won an appeal that led the ICC to remove a demerit point from Gaddafi Stadium.

So Friday in Rawalpindi is a first look at two things, that a new Pakistan side, and a slightly different game.