ICC in a bid to clean up game

The International Cricket Council (ICC) this week unveiled tougher sanctions for balltampering and sledging in a bid to improve on-field behaviour in the sport.

The changes come in the wake of a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in March that saw Steve Smith stripped of the Australian captaincy and suspended from international and domestic cricket for a year. Team-mates David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were also banned.

“It is vital that there is a strong deterrent to both players and administrators to ensure we have high standards of conduct in our game. We have more than a billion fans and we must not give any of them any reason to doubt the high levels of integrity within our sport,” said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar.

Changes to the ICC’s code of conduct included the introduction of a raft of tougher sanctions, to be introduced later this year, for cheating (other than ball-tampering), personal abuse, audible obscenity, disobeying an umpire’s instructions, and changing the condition of the ball, the Dubai-based governing body said.

Ball-tampering will now be considered a level-three offence, for which the maximum sanction is 12 suspension points, the equivalent to six Test matches or 12 one-day internationals.

“The board also agreed to consider how member boards can be held liable for its players’ behaviour with appropriate sanctions to be imposed on boards when the accumulated number of offences by its players exceed certain thresholds,” the ICC said.

The ICC also agreed a plan for stabilising the financial, cricket and management structures of Zimbabwe Cricket.

Meanwhile, ICC chief executive David Richardson will step down from his position once his contract expires after the 2019 World Cup.

The former Proteas wicketkeeper has been in the post since 2012.