ICC allows pink ball usage
Bengaluru: With the game of cricket constantly evolving, the International Cricket Council (ICC) made a slew of changes to its playing conditions, which came into effect from Oct 1.
It’s just rarely been enacted, and I think now the ICC have said, right, we’re going to try to toughen up on this a bit. Some of those changes included a pink-ball trial in Tests and time-wasting penalties. The law has always been there. I think the more we can do to try to speed up play, the better it is. Otherwise, the public who pay a lot of money to watch cricket feel short-changed. I think what the umpires try to do is to highlight to players that there are laws that cover this and if you waste time, it will catch up and there will be an in-game penalty of runs rather than a fine afterwards. That’s an ICC playing condition rather than a law of cricket. I believe, in a bilateral series, say, India playing Australia, it’s for them to agree among themselves for a particular game, are we going to use a pink ball? The laws do provide a remedy, both for batting and bowling sides. It’s for umpires to enforce those laws and, if they think the pace of play is too slow, whether it is the fielding captain or the batting side, and say, you’re on a warning; it will result in penalty runs. But the umpires do need to enforce that, and be backed up by the match referees.
Fraser Stewart, the Head of Cricket at Marylebone Cricket Club, opened up beyond the laws in a media interaction here on Monday.