International Cricket Council to sanction 6 Tests or 12 ODIs ban for ball-tampering offenders

The ball-tampering will now be equivalent to breaking of level 3 Law.

The ICC now has harsher punishment for altering the condition of the ball. (ICC)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to enforce harsher punishments on those found guilty of altering the condition of the ball in play by using an external artificial substance. The game's governing body has taken a decision to impose a ban of 6 Tests or 12 ODIs on the offender. 

As per the ICC, the ball-tampering is now a level 3 offense as opposed to the earlier Level 2. The upgradation has taken place purely because of the recent incidents in South Africa and West Indies. 

The decision was taken at its Annual Conference in Dublin which concluded on Monday, 2nd July. The other major development is limit on the number of private T20 leagues that a player is allowed to participate in, an important step in ensuring that the prestigious nature and the pinnacle status of the International game is maintained. There have been frequent instances of players trading the national duty for a lucrative contract with T20 sides across leagues around the world and it has created a huge problem for nations, outside India, Australia and England, to field their best players all the time. 

While ICC didn’t clarify how many leagues a player can take part in, it is understood to be not more than 3 per year.(Likely to be split as 1 home league and 2 away)

But, the biggest news was definitely regarding the sanction on poor on-field behaviour and for ball-tampering. The level 3 offense for altering the ball condition equates to 12 suspension points, which has taken the punishment from the earlier 1 Test or 2 ODIs to 6 Tests or 12 ODIs. 

Also, new Level 1 offense has been added regarding the audible obscenity if anything is heard on the stump microphone.

(Inputs from Hindustan Times)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 03 Jul, 2018

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