Behaviour at lower levels of cricket has "got completely out of hand," according to former Australia captain Ricky Ponting and, if Law changes are approved next February, players in local British Gas Southern Premier and Hampshire League cricket could be 'red carded' in 2018.
Ponting is a member of the MCC world cricket committee that recommended the introduction of an in-game disciplinary sanction, which aims to combat poor behaviour by allowing umpires to send players off if they are guilty of violent or threatening actions.
Under guidelines suggested by the committee, umpires will - for the first time in the game's history - be able to send off any player in a match if they are deemed to have threatened an umpire, physically assaulted another player, umpire, official or spectator, or committed any other act of violence on the field of play.
Under the change to the Laws recommended, a player sent off would not be allowed any further involvement in the game.
"The reason we are talking about making significant changes to lower level cricket is because it has got completely out of hand down there," Ponting said. "We have got to the stage that something had to be done to prevent these things happening."
While the initiative is designed primarily to deal with cases of poor behaviour at the grass-roots levels of the game, it is likely to come into effect at all levels from October 1, 2017 if, as expected, it is ratified by the main MCC committee at their meeting in February.
What happens next?
• The full MCC committee meets in February to discuss the recommendations of the MCC world cricket committee. If they are ratified - and they are expected to be - they will become part of the Laws from October 1, 2017.
• The Laws of the game are automatically accepted by the ICC unless specified otherwise in their Playing Handbook. There are numerous examples of the ICC Playing Regulations differing from the Laws, but the ICC would have to amend them before October 1, 2017 if they were to opt out of the proposed new Law about sending players off.
• David Richardson, the ICC CEO, attended the MCC world cricket committee meeting in Mumbai, and John Stephenson, the MCC head of cricket, sits on the ICC cricket committee. It therefore seems safe to conclude there is at least some ICC support for the MCC world cricket committee's recommendations.
• Any appendix to the Laws is not automatically assimilated into the playing conditions of the ICC or any other league. So the proposed sin-bin or yellow card system will not become a Law in October 2017, but it could, in time, become a playing condition.
• The next meeting of the MCC world cricket committee takes place at Lord's on July 3 and 4.
"A recent survey by Portsmouth University showed that 40% of British umpires were considering giving up because of verbal abuse," Mike Brearley, the chairman of the MCC world cricket committee and a former England captain, said. "And anecdotal evidence from people familiar with leagues in part of England suggests that on-field behaviour is much worse than it was. The umpires have to be respected."
The MCC said in a release: "Cricket is one of few sports in which there is no in-match punishment for poor behaviour. A captain may ask his player to leave the field, but the umpires have no such jurisdiction. Taking an extreme example, a batsman could wilfully hit a member of the fielding side with their bat, before carrying on to score a century to win the match for their team."
The MCC discussed sanctions for lesser offences - incorporating a 'yellow card' or 'sin bin' system into the Laws - but concluded that it might prove hard to apply consistently across the world. They will, however, look to add an appendix to the Laws, which governing bodies or individual leagues could incorporate within their own playing regulations as they saw fit.
This means that national governing bodies, or the ICC, could adopt the use of such sanctions as sin-bins and yellow cards from October 2017. As things stand, the ICC accepts all Laws into the international playing conditions unless stated otherwise in their Playing Handbook. Items in the appendix are not automatically accepted.
"Our expectation is that ICC support all of the decisions made here in Mumbai," an MCC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. "John Stephenson, the MCC's head of cricket, sits on the ICC cricket committee and there has been full collaboration between the two organisations
Ponting is a member of the MCC world cricket committee that recommended the introduction of an in-game disciplinary sanction, which aims to combat poor behaviour by allowing umpires to send players off if they are guilty of violent or threatening actions.
Under guidelines suggested by the committee, umpires will - for the first time in the game's history - be able to send off any player in a match if they are deemed to have threatened an umpire, physically assaulted another player, umpire, official or spectator, or committed any other act of violence on the field of play.
Under the change to the Laws recommended, a player sent off would not be allowed any further involvement in the game.
"The reason we are talking about making significant changes to lower level cricket is because it has got completely out of hand down there," Ponting said. "We have got to the stage that something had to be done to prevent these things happening."
While the initiative is designed primarily to deal with cases of poor behaviour at the grass-roots levels of the game, it is likely to come into effect at all levels from October 1, 2017 if, as expected, it is ratified by the main MCC committee at their meeting in February.
What happens next?
• The full MCC committee meets in February to discuss the recommendations of the MCC world cricket committee. If they are ratified - and they are expected to be - they will become part of the Laws from October 1, 2017.
• The Laws of the game are automatically accepted by the ICC unless specified otherwise in their Playing Handbook. There are numerous examples of the ICC Playing Regulations differing from the Laws, but the ICC would have to amend them before October 1, 2017 if they were to opt out of the proposed new Law about sending players off.
• David Richardson, the ICC CEO, attended the MCC world cricket committee meeting in Mumbai, and John Stephenson, the MCC head of cricket, sits on the ICC cricket committee. It therefore seems safe to conclude there is at least some ICC support for the MCC world cricket committee's recommendations.
• Any appendix to the Laws is not automatically assimilated into the playing conditions of the ICC or any other league. So the proposed sin-bin or yellow card system will not become a Law in October 2017, but it could, in time, become a playing condition.
• The next meeting of the MCC world cricket committee takes place at Lord's on July 3 and 4.
"A recent survey by Portsmouth University showed that 40% of British umpires were considering giving up because of verbal abuse," Mike Brearley, the chairman of the MCC world cricket committee and a former England captain, said. "And anecdotal evidence from people familiar with leagues in part of England suggests that on-field behaviour is much worse than it was. The umpires have to be respected."
The MCC said in a release: "Cricket is one of few sports in which there is no in-match punishment for poor behaviour. A captain may ask his player to leave the field, but the umpires have no such jurisdiction. Taking an extreme example, a batsman could wilfully hit a member of the fielding side with their bat, before carrying on to score a century to win the match for their team."
The MCC discussed sanctions for lesser offences - incorporating a 'yellow card' or 'sin bin' system into the Laws - but concluded that it might prove hard to apply consistently across the world. They will, however, look to add an appendix to the Laws, which governing bodies or individual leagues could incorporate within their own playing regulations as they saw fit.
This means that national governing bodies, or the ICC, could adopt the use of such sanctions as sin-bins and yellow cards from October 2017. As things stand, the ICC accepts all Laws into the international playing conditions unless stated otherwise in their Playing Handbook. Items in the appendix are not automatically accepted.
"Our expectation is that ICC support all of the decisions made here in Mumbai," an MCC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. "John Stephenson, the MCC's head of cricket, sits on the ICC cricket committee and there has been full collaboration between the two organisations
