ICC brings in strong sanctions for ball tampering and abuse

DUBLIN: The International Cricket Council (ICC) Tuesday concluded its five-day Annual Conference in Dublin with strong support for strengthening the ICC Code of Conduct and a range of new offences introduced, says an ICC release.

A plan for stabilising the financial, cricket and management structures at Zimbabwe Cricket was also agreed.

ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar said: “It has been a productive week of meetings here in Dublin and it has been good to have all ICC Members in attendance at our 75th Annual Conference. I and my fellow Board directors were unanimous in supporting the recommendations of the Cricket Committee and Chief Executives’ Committee to drive improved behavior across our sport.

“It is vital that there is a strong deterrent to both players and administrators to ensure we have high standards of conduct in our game. We have more than a billion fans and we must not give any of them any reason to doubt the high levels of integrity within our sport.

“I am satisfied we have mapped out a way forward to enable Zimbabwe Cricket to get back on track. It will require significant change to their financial, managerial and cricketing operations, along with support from the ICC, but we saw the latent potential of cricket at the recent ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe and this gives us the opportunity to build on that.

“I was delighted to welcome Indra Nooyi, our first independent female director to the Board and would like to thank her for her excellent contributions this week. The decision by my fellow directors to bring an independent director onto the Board was an important one and one that with Indra in place, will be good for the game.”

The ICC Board agreed a package of measures to enable Zimbabwe Cricket to stabilise its business and allow cricket to flourish in the country. Zimbabwe Cricket have now complied with a number of conditions recently set by the ICC Board in relation to their financial situation.

As such, the Board confirmed a rearrangement of ZC’s funding that will assist with the service of its existing debts, whilst the remainder of the funding will only be released on a controlled basis. ICC management will work with Zimbabwe Cricket to develop a plan for managing its cricketing, management and financial structures which will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The Board agreed to allow a representative of the Sri Lankan Sports Minister to sit as an observer to the ICC Board and Full Council, but requested that elections for Sri Lanka Cricket are held within six months, failing which SLC’s Membership status would be considered.

The ICC Board fully supported the Chief Executives’ Committee and Cricket Committee recommended changes to the Code of Conduct. This includes the introduction of the following new offences and the change in level of some existing offences.

The maximum sanction for a Level 3 offence has been increased from 8 suspension points to 12 suspension points (equivalent to 6 Test matches or 12 ODIs).

Match referees will now hear Level 1, 2 and 3 charges with a Judicial Commissioner only hearing Level 4 charges and appeals.