ICC to introduce stop-clock in white-ball cricket to regulate time taken between overs

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved the use of a stop-clock in white-ball cricket, as confirmed by a press release. The implementation of it has currently been sanctioned on a trial basis from 2023 to April 2024 in a bid to regulate the time taken between overs.

The rule involves a penalty as well, with the statement mentioning that teams will be handed a five-run penalty if they fail to begin an over within a minute of the previous overs' completion for a third time in the innings.

"Chief Executives’ Committed (CEC) greed to introduce a stop clock on a trial basis in men’s ODI and T20I cricket from December 2023 to April 2024," the press release read.

"The clock will be used to regulate the amount of time taken between overs. If the bowling team is not ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed, a 5-run penalty will be imposed the third time it happens in an innings," it continued.

Regulation of time has been a priority for ICC for quite a while. The imposition of on-field penalties has been applied to the sport for quite a while, which has seen matches being completed within the allotted time.

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ICC has also approved new gender eligibility regulations

The press release also mentions new gender eligibility regulations being approved by the governing council. The subject saw a lot of discussions between the board and the stakeholders across the last nine months.

The final verdict has been laid on the back of some basic principles which are mentioned below in order of priority.

"Protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion, and this means any Male to Female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to participate in the international women’s game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken," the press release read.

To sum it up, the ICC has banned transgender athletes from participating in women's international cricket. As far as their involvement in domestic cricket is concerned, the governing council has left it to each individual board. Furthermore, the regulations will be reviewed every two years.

“The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review. Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players,” ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said.

What do you make of the decisions taken by the ICC Board? Let us know what you think.