Cricket introducing red cards from September 28 so players can be sent off for extreme ill discipline
ICC bring in raft of rule changes, including measures to exclude unruly players for the rest of the game
FOR the first time in the Laws Of Cricket, red cards will be introduced to the game.
The MCC, custodian of the laws, and the International Cricket Council are giving umpires the power to send off a player in the most extreme cases of on-field breaches of discipline.
The new rule is set to come into effect on Thursday September 28, and will apply to all levels of cricket, from international tests, to the village green.
It was announced in a press release issued by the ICC last year.
Cricketers will be sent off if they are guilty of "threatening an umpire, physically assaulting another player, umpire, official or spectator, or any other act of violence on the field of play."
It will, however, apply in all international and professional domestic matches.
Committee chairman Mike Brearley and colleagues including his fellow former Test captain Ricky Ponting say the change is specifically targeted at addressing increasingly poor standards of behaviour in recreational cricket, rather than at the professional level.
The committee statement explained its reasons for recommending the power to send a player off for the entire remaining duration of any match - be it over 20 overs, or five days.
It read: "The committee believes that the game must now include a mechanism to deal with the worst disciplinary offences during the match, and not subsequent to it as is presently the case.
"If approved, the ability to send a player off would therefore come into effect at all levels of the game from October 1 2017."
Other lesser punishments, such as run penalties or 'sin bins', were discussed but ruled out as a universal measure because the committee judged "it would be harder to achieve consistency of application around the world".
It is not expected that red cards will happen as frequently as they do in football, but only on rare occasions will a player be removed from the field of play due to unacceptable behaviour.
"In a survey done with umpires, 40 per cent of them said they'd considered giving up the game because of abuse."
Committee member Ramiz Raja emphasised that it is club cricket which appears to be most prone to the worst player behaviour.
He said: "This is a pretty drastic change to the Laws....it is the second or third tier which is causing a lot of stress, the club matches.
"It was felt that something had to be done, at that level particularly. It is just a deterrent."
It's not cricket: new rule changes
- Red cards for unruly players, who are sent off for the remainder of the game
- Thickness of bats must be within strict limits
- Handled-the-ball dismissal has been removed
- Test teams can have six subs (up from four)
- Batsmen can be run out if the ball hits a fielder's helmet
Other notable ruled changes include reducing in the size of bat edges to 40mm, to help prevent obvious mis-hits going for six.
The committee reaffirmed its belief that "cricket should embrace the concept of playing T20 at the Olympic Games" - with participation in 2024 still an objective.
The last time cricket was involved in the Olympic Games was back in 1900, with Great Britain winning by 158 runs against France.
It was the only game of the tournament.