Stop clock for Tests, no ball change after saliva use: Changes to playing conditions approved by ICC

NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently approved several changes to playing conditions for men’s international cricket, including the Boundary Law and one-ball rule in ODIs from the 35th over.

While come of these rules have already come into force during the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27, the rules for white-ball formats will come in effect from July 2 onwards. ESPNCricinfo looks at the notable changes introduced across three formats, having reviewed the playing conditions shared by the world cricket governing body with its member bodies recently.

Introduction of Stop Clock in Tests
A year after the introduction of the rule in limited-overs cricket, the ICC has decided to bring it in red ball cricket, where slow-over-rates have been a massive problem for years. As per the rule, the fielding side is supposed to start an over within 60 seconds of the last one ending.

Two warnings will be given on failure to do so, and another failure would result in a five-run penalty on the bowling team. The warnings will be reset to zero after each block worth 80 overs. The rule has come into effect during the ongoing 2025-27 WTC cycle.

ICC Implements New Cricket Rules from July: Stop Clock, Saliva Rule, DRS Update & More

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No mandatory ball change on deliberate usage of saliva
While the saliva ban continues in international cricket since Covid-19, the mandatory ball change by umpires in case of saliva being found on the ball is no longer compulsory. This change is made to prevent teams from changing the balls by deliberately applying saliva to them.

Going forward, the condition of the ball will help in deciding if the ball is to be changed or not. If it appears too wet or these is more shine. This decision has been completely left to the umpires. If the ball starts doing things after umpires saying that application of saliva has not changed its condition, it would not be replaced. The batting team would, however, be given five penalty runs.

DRS protocol for secondary review after an out decision
Imagine a situation when a batter has been given out caught behind, and he demands a review. The UltraEdge shows the ball brushing the pads without any contact with the bat. With the catch ruled out, the TV umpire checks for second dismissal mode via ball tracking, whether he is lbw or not.

So far, the protocol was, once the batter was given ‘not out caught’, the default decision for the second mode of dismissal, lbw, would be not out. This means, if the ball tracking led to an “umpire’s call” verdict, the batter would remain not out. But in now’s updated rule, when the ball tracking is displayed, the original decision label on it would be reading “out” and if the review yields an umpire call, the batter would be ruled out.

Combined reviews, decisions will be chronological
If in case, there is a player review and an umpire review for separate modes of dismissal on the same ball, “the incidents shall be addressed in chronological order”.

Earlier, the TV umpire used to assess the umpire reviews before moving on to the review asked for by a player. Now, the revised playing condition reads, “If the conclusion from the first incident is that a batter is dismissed, then the ball would be deemed to have become dead at that point, rendering investigation of the second incident unnecessary”.

So now, if there is an appeal for lbw and run out, the TV umpire would first take up the lbw review since it occurred first. In case batter is out, then the ball would be declared dead and review for run out would not be done.

Fairness of catch to be reviewed for no-ball
As per Wisden, the TV umpire will check for the fairness of a catch even after a no-ball from the bowler. Earlier, if no ball was signalled by the third umpire, the fairness of the catch was not checked. But now, it will be. If the catch is fair, the batting team will get one extra run for a no-ball, and if it is unfair, the batting team will get the runs taken by the batters.

Deliberate short run
In case a batter has been caught taking a short run, five runs are shaved off the batting team’s total. Now, as per updated rules, if one of the batters does not make their ground deliberately for the sake of stealing an extra run, the umpires would ask the fielding team to decide which batter they want to be on strike. The five-run penalty will continue.

“A deliberate short run is an attempt for batters to appear to run more than one run, while at least one batter deliberately does not make good their ground at one end,” Rule 18.5.1 of the playing conditions says. “Batters may choose to abort a run, provided the umpire believes that there was no intention by the batter concerned to deceive the umpires or to score the run in which they did not make their ground”, the rule added.

Full-time playing replacement in domestic first-class cricket
To compensate for the loss of a player who has suffered a serious external injury, the ICC has requested that cricket boards trial a full-time replacement player in their domestic first-class matches. This replacement player will be like-for-like, similar to a concussion substitute. The injury will have to be evident and visible for match officials before a decision is taken. It would not be applicable to hamstring pulls or niggles. (ANI)