‘Sendings off will just cause friction’

THE introduction of sending-offs for bad behaviour could plunge club cricket into chaos.

That’s according to Simon Prodger, the head of the Club Cricket Conference, who fears that the new system will pose a huge problem for clubs in the lower levels who rely almost entirely on their players to officiate.

The new code, which will come into effect in October, will see four levels of punishment of differing severity for offences.

The MCC has made it clear that the rule change has been primarily motivated by the desire to stamp out poor behaviour in amateur rather than professional cricket.

Unless it’s policed properly, though, Prodger believes that it could, in the lower levels, stoke up further friction between teams.

“This is a reaction to the amateur game but the rules have been take to govern the whole of cricket,” says Prodger. “I’m clearly in favour of anything that leads to improved behaviour because for years we’ve seen the standards of on-field behaviour falling.

“This isn’t a creeping issue, it has been a cascade. Poor behaviour has massively increased over the past four seasons and something has to be done. But I’m not sure you can enforce these laws with players umpiring other players.

“Empowering umpires might provide a solution when neutral umpires stand but how it can work in lower division games God only knows. There are all kinds of potential pitfalls. There has to be a cultural shift.”

What it will do, Prodger hopes, is force teams to take control their own players.

“Clubs are going to have to start taking responsibility for their own players because if clubs are not prepared to accept those decisions then we’re just going to have more friction between officials and cricket clubs,” he says.

“When it comes to sanctions clubs are not particularly good at following through. The clubs, through their captains, are going to have to start taking responsibility for the players.

“Hopefully we’ll get club officials and captains telling their players that behaviour is their responsibility and they don’t want to have runs deducted or players sent off as a result of them doing things they have got away with in the past.”