Cricket set to introduce red cards, limit size of bats

Mumbai, Dec 7 (CRICKETNMORE) Cricket is contemplating player evictions for the first time next year, while also limiting the size of ever-bulging bats.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) World Cricket committee recommended that umpires be given the power to eject cricketers from a game for serious disciplinary breaches. The MCC World Cricket committee met here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

MCC is the guardian of the laws of the game. The new laws will be implemented at all levels of the game from October 1, 2017, if they are approved by the MCC's main committee.

The new laws will include a stipulation that umpires can remove a player from the field for threatening an umpire, physically assaulting another player, umpire, official or spectator and any other act of violence.

"The World Cricket committee believes that the game must now include a mechanism to deal with the worst disciplinary offences during the match, and not subsequent to it as is presently the case. If approved, the ability to send a player off would therefore come into effect at all levels of the game from 1st October 2017," an MCC release said here on Wednesday.

"The committee debated sanctions for lesser offences -- including run penalties and sin bins -- but did not believe anything should be introduced to the laws, where it would be harder to achieve consistency of application around the world. However, MCC will look to devise such a system as an appendix to the laws which governing bodies or leagues may wish to implement within their own playing regulations."

The MCC committee also recommended specific bat size limitations be made to both the edges and depth of a bat as it believes the balance of the game has tilted too far in the batsman's favour.

The committee felt the time has come to limit the sizes of bat edges and depths.

"The main committee of MCC will now be asked to approve a limit to bat edges of 40 millimetre and bat depths of 67mm (60mm for the depth plus an allowance of 7mm for a possible curve on the face of the bat). If approved, these changes will be implemented into the new code of the Laws of Cricket, which will be introduced on 1 October 2017," MCC said.

The committee wants to draw a line as to how long and wide a bat will be to target mis-hits that are clearing the boundary ropes for six.

"Many of the top players' bats have edges of between 38mm and 42mm, but there are some which have edges of up to 50mm, which was felt to be excessive and in need of restriction."

A bat gauge will ensure that the new limits are adhered to in the professional game, whilst a moratorium period, allowing players to use their existing bats which may be in breach of the Law, will be allowed in the amateur game."

"The length of the moratorium will be determined by local governing bodies and may vary for different levels of cricket," the MCC said.

The MCC World Cricket committee's chairman is former England captain Mike Brearley. The two-day meeting was attended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Anurag Thakur and International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive David Richardson.