International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to introduce a stop clock on a trial basis in men’s ODI and T20I. The clock is set to be used to regulate the amount of time taken between overs so that unnecessary time delays between the innings can be avoided.
For instance, if the team bowling isn’t ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds and if this instance gets repeated for the third time in an innings then the bowling team will get imposed a penalty of five runs.
This rule (or) move by ICC has been approved by the chief executive committee to regulate the pace of play. This is set to be tried for the first time during the upcoming three-match ODI series between West Indies and England which is set to start on 3rd December. This is set to be implemented on a trial basis for six months between December 2023 to April 2024.
Regulation of time has been a priority for ICC for quite some time which has ensured the matches get completed within the allotted period. The third umpire through a timer gets to regulate the time while accounting for any stoppages before relaying it to the on-field match officials.
