Tougher tampering penalties
Cricket’s governing body the ICC wants tougher penalties for ball tampering.
Chief executive Dave Richardson said they want players to respect the culture of the game, following the outcry in Australia’s recent series in South Africa when bowler Cameron Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball.
Although Bancroft and the instigators of the incident, Steve Smith and David Warner all received lengthy bans from Cricket Australia, the ICC were unable to hand out significant punishments under their own rules.
Smith was given a one-test ban and fined 100 per cent of his match fees for the third test in the heated series against the Proteas.
But Richardson told a news conference that the ICC wants to change its rules on the punishments that can be given out under its code of conduct rules.
‘‘We want to move towards stricter and heavier sanction for ball-tampering and all other offences that are indicative of a lack of respect for your opponent, for the game, for the umpire, for fans, for the media etc,’’ Richardson told reporters.
‘‘We want penalties in place which act as proper deterrent. Fines are not proving to be the answer.’’
The ICC’s Cricket Committee, which is chaired by former India captain Anil Kumble, has been charged with reviewing the ICC’s current code of conduct and new rulings are expected to be announced midway through 2018.
‘‘We’ve got the spirit of cricket in the laws but we need to define it in the modern day and age,’’ Richardson said.
‘‘Both the CEC (Chief Executives’s Committee) and the board were very supportive of trying to develop a culture of respect across the game, both on the field and off the field.
‘‘Hopefully through these actions of reviewing the code of conduct and developing a culture of respect... we will achieve that goal.’’
Richardson said introducing a red and yellow card system to the sport, as is the case with rugby, is one of the options that would be considered, to help clean up the game.
‘‘Whether we introduce red or yellow cards, we’d leave it to the committee,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m not convinced that it would as easy to implement as it is in other sports.’’