Red cards for cricketers! MCC’s new rules are game-changers

NEW DELHI: In what is a major change in how cricket, the traditional gentleman’s game, is played, on-field umpires will have the authority, like their football counterparts, to send off players for breaches of behaviour.

This will be part of the new laws of cricket that will come into effect from October 1 , confirmed Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

The new laws are based on the recommendations of the MCC Cricket Committee. UMPIRE SANCTIONS UNDER THE NEW CODE Level 1: Offences which could invite action include excessive appealing and showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.

Following an official warning, a second Level 1 offence will result in five penalty runs being awarded to the opposing team.

Level 2: Offences (including throwing the ball at a player or making deliberate physical contact with an opponent during play), will result in the immediate awarding of five penalty runs to the opposing team.

Level 3: Offences (including intimidating an umpire or threatening to assault another player, team official or spectator) will result in five penalty runs and a removal of the offending player from the field for a set number of overs, depending on the format of the match.

Level 4: Offences (threatening an umpire or committing any act of violence on the field of play), will result in five penalty runs and the removal of the offending player. If the player is batting at the time of the offence, he/she will be recorded as ‘retired out’. “We felt the time had come to introduce such sanctions ,” said John Stephenson, MCC’s head of cricket.