Highlights
- Ban on use of saliva by players
- Non-neutral umpires allowed for all international matches
- One additional DRS review per team per innings
- All changes are interim
Cricket Committee chairman Anil Kumble said these changes to ICC regulations are to mitigate the risks posed by the COVID-19 virus and protect the safety of players and match officials.
"We are living through extraordinary times and the recommendations the committee made today are interim measures to enable us to safely resume cricket in a way that preserves the essence of our game," Kumble said in an ICC release.
Vimal Kumar is a New Delhi based sports journalist.
He told SBS Hindi, “During a meeting over a video conference, the committee also pushed for bringing back two non-neutral umpires for all international matches.”
These recommendations by the Cricket Committee will now be presented to the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee in early June for approval.
Vimal Kumar says, approval by ICC chief executives’ committee is just formality as these recommendations were made after a report from the chair of the ICC Medical Advisory Committee Dr Peter Harcourt regarding the elevated risk of the transmission of the virus through saliva.”
After this report committee unanimously agreed to recommend that the use of saliva to polish the ball be prohibited.
However, players will be allowed to use sweat to polish the ball because the medical advice reports say it is highly unlikely that the virus can be transmitted through sweat, explained by Mr Kumar.
Due to current international travel restrictions, the committee also recommended that local match officials/Umpires be appointed in the short-term.
Vimal Kumar says these appointments will be done by the ICC from match hosting country's local elite and an International panel of referees and umpires.
Just to avoid any issue with local umpires ICC committee has proposed an additional DRS review per team per innings to be introduced in each format as an interim measure, said Mr Kumar.
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