Ponting says shot clocks would help erase ‘dead time’

LONDON: With fines proving ineffective, shot clocks and run penalties could be used to speed up over rates in all forms of cricket, according to former Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

A two-day meeting of the MCC World Cricket committee at Lord’s discussed a range of issues including the speed of play and ball tampering.Ponting, part of the advisory committee chaired by former England captain Mike Gatting and including former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, said cutting ‘dead time’ through the use of shot clocks could be considered by ICC.

“It probably seems a little extreme the idea of the shot clock,” Ponting told reporters.“But once again this year, in all three formats of the game, the over rates have been in decline again.”

The committee found that Test over rates are at an 11-year low, proof current measures are not working.“So we’ve talked about the idea of the shot clock and that’s basically for the dead time in the game,” he said. “It’s not going to be when the bowler is at the top of his markz and running in because that’s hard to gauge. It’s the dead time. The end of the over.”

Ponting said the exact punishment had not been decided but the committee favoured a run penalty.He said ball tampering had been at the top of the committee’s agenda, adding wickets that were fair to bowlers could help eradicate the need for ball tampering.

“I think the reason reverse swing has become such a big issue in the past 10 years is that the wickets have got flatter and flatter and bowlers have been trying to find a way to keep themselves in the contest,” he said.