The International Cricket Council (ICC) approved the concussion substitution and allow like-for-like replacement in all the formats of the game. This new rule will be in effect from the Ashes series between England and Australia beginning from August 1.

The debate for concussion substitutes started back in 2014 when Australian opener Phillip Hughes was hit by a fatal bouncer while batting on 63 not out.

Cricket Australia (CA) has fully supported this decision by ICC as their Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager, Alex Kountouris said, “Cricket Australia has been trialling concussion substitutes since 2016-17 in domestic limited-overs matches (one-day and T20) and since 2017-18 in first-class domestic matches. The introduction of the substitutes has been well received across Australian Cricket by players, coaches and medical staff.”

“It has allowed medical staff to assess players with a suspected concussion during matches free of the pressures of leaving a team one player short. Additionally, the rule will also allow players to declare symptoms of concussion (that can sometimes occur well after the incident), knowing that their team will not be disadvantaged,” Kountouris added.

Cricket Australia’s Interim Executive General Manager Team Performance, Belinda Clark who played a leading role in the decision making of concussion substitutes, said, “We welcome the introduction of concussion substitutes for international cricket. It's something we're proud to have been at the forefront of and we're delighted the ICC has agreed to not only introduce it but also to ensure it is in place for the start of the men's Ashes series that marks the beginning of World Test Championship.”

The replacement player will need to be a like-for-like to the one substituted out and will be subject to the approval of the match referee.

(With ANI inputs)