CRICKET’S governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has announced that they will experiment with the use of a stop clock in men’s limited overs matches in a bid to regulate the time taken between overs.
A penalty of five runs will be imposed on the bowling side if they fail three times in an innings to start the new over within a minute.
The new experiment will come in effect next month and will be on trial for five months starting with the One-Day Internationals (ODI) between the West Indies and England which begin on December 3.
Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, veteran commentator and cricket analyst, believes that the changes will have more of an impact on the 50-over game rather than T20 Internationals.
“My initial response is that they (ICC) are trying to speed up the limited overs games and it’s going to have an impact, especially on the 50-over game. It is felt that the middle overs are a bit boring and this is a further experiment. This will start with England’s tour of the West Indies and you’ll need to see players trying to get into position quickly which will take a lot of pre planning,” he explained.
Perreira added that the viewing public will see every indication of how this rule could affect the game when the West Indies-England ODIs start.
“A lot of work will have to be done prior to the toss being spun as teams will not have the ability to do that when the game starts or else, they’ll be caught with their pants down. Teams will be under pressure to meet the requirements of the stop clock. You’ll see every indication when England play the West Indies and you’ll see how they cope with the limitations,” Perreira stated.
Former West Indies fast bowler Darren Powell, who featured in 55 ODIs for the West Indies, shared that he doesn’t see an issue with ICC’s new rule.
“I don’t see an issue starting an over within the minute. If I have any issues, I personally would do it after the over has started. What ICC is doing is making time for viewership, a T20 innings should be an hour and a half and you see on some occasions the innings going to one hour and 45 minutes and those are the things that the ICC is trying to eliminate,” Powell stated. (The Gleaner)
