International Cricket Council makes stop clocks permanent in ODIs, T20s after successful trial

The Sunday Mail

STOP CLOCKS used to regulate the time taken between overs will become a permanent fixture at limited-overs internationals from June following a successful trial, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has said.

The ICC said the feature, which has been on trial in limited-overs men’s internationals since December, demonstrated that approximately 20 minutes had been saved per one-day international game.

It has been added as a mandatory playing condition in all full-member ODI and Twenty20 international matches, starting with the men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States, the ICC said after its annual board meeting.

Fielding sides will be expected to start a new over within a minute of completing the previous one, with an electronic clock displayed at grounds starting a countdown each time.

If a team is not ready to bowl the first ball of the next over within 60 seconds of the previous one being completed, they will receive two warnings with any further breaches leading to a five-run penalty per incident.

Clocks can be stopped in some cases as determined by the third umpire, such as when a new batter comes to the wicket in between overs, during official drinks breaks and injury breaks, among other circumstances – Reuters