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The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board met in Dubai this week and the future structure and context of international bilateral cricket was top of the agenda.
Among the top decisions taken was the introduction of stop-clock as a mandatory playing condition in white-ball cricket and reserve days for knockout stages during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The Board and the Chief Executives' Committee both had extensive discussions on the future structure of the game, considering issues such as greater context for international white-ball matches, the feasibility of scheduling windows as well as the principles of the commercial arrangements underpinning the FTP. ICC Chair Greg Barclay said as quoted by ICC: "The ICC Board and Committee meetings are the forum for us to discuss the long-term future of the international game and at this set of meetings we spent several hours constructively considering the structure of the global cricket calendar." "Whilst there are no easy answers, there is a commitment to exploring how context can be delivered and further options will be considered at upcoming meetings," he added. The Board also confirmed the stop clock will become a permanent fixture in all ODIs and T20Is. The playing conditions for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 were also approved, as was the qualification process for the 2026 edition of the event. As per the stop clock rule that was trialled in men's white-ball cricket, the fielding side is expected to start a new over within 60 seconds of the completion of the previous over. An electronic clock, counting down from 60 to zero, will be displayed on the ground, with the onus on the third umpire to determine the start of the clock. The failure of the fielding side to be ready to bowl the first ball of their next over within the stipulated 60 seconds of the previous over being completed attracts two warnings. Subsequent breaches would lead to a five-run penalty per incident. The results of the stop clock trial were presented to the Chief Executives' Committee, which demonstrated that around 20 minutes per ODI match had been saved in time. Given the clear improvement to the flow of the game, the CEC approved that the stop clock be introduced as a mandatory playing condition in all men's ODI and T20I matches between Full Members from June 1, 2024, including the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. The ICC Men's T20 World Cup will have reserve days scheduled for the semi-finals and final and in the group stage and Super Eight series, a minimum of five overs have to be bowled to the team batting second to constitute a game, whilst in the knock-out stages, a minimum of ten overs will need to be bowled. The ICC Board also approved the qualification process for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. The event, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka, will see 12 automatic qualifiers. These will include the joint hosts along with the top eight teams from the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 with the remaining spots (between 2-4 depending on host finishing positions) to be filled from the next highest-ranked teams on the ICC Men's T20I rankings table as at 30 June 2024. The remaining eight teams will be identified through regional qualifiers. (ANI)
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