Misbehaving cricketers face being sent off for 1st time

Mumbai: Cricketers will be at risk of being sent off for the first time after the game's lawmakers proposed giving umpires powers to punish unruly players.

Currently, only captains can ask their own players to leave the field, with umpires powerless to punish bad behavior unlike in most other sports.

The Marylebone Cricket Club - the guardian of the laws of the game - said players could be ejected from games from Oct 1, 2017 if its main committee approves Wednesday's recommendation from the world cricket committee.

The MCC wants players to be removed from the field for acts of violence - including physically assaulting a player, umpire, official or fan - or threatening an umpire. The proposed new law is in response to concerns about bad behavior in lower levels of cricket, rather than high-profile elite games.

"Taking an extreme example, a batsman could (currently) willfully 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 said in a statement after a meeting in Mumbai. "The Spirit of Cricket states there is to be no violence on the field yet there is nothing in the laws giving the umpires power to punish it during the match.

"Cricket therefore needs a punishment which will have an impact on the perpetrator and his or her team during that particular match. It is unrealistic to think that every captain will discipline his or her players and ensure that the Spirit of Cricket is followed. Almost all other sports have an umpire or referee who can take more drastic action."

Another change to the game from next year could be restrictions on the size of bats to prevent obvious mishits to boundaries securing six runs. If approved by the MCC committee, bats will be restricted to edges of 40 millimeters and depths of 67 millimeters.

"The balance of the game has tilted too far in the batsman's favor," the MCC said, "and that the time has come to limit the sizes of bat edges and depths."

Separately, the MCC urged the International Cricket Council to "work as hard as possible" to push for cricket to be included in the 2024 Olympic program.

"The committee is encouraged to hear that a strategy is being written by ICC to look at the development of the game in both the U.S. and China, but believes that the single most effective way cricket can grow around the world is by being included in the Olympics," MCC said.