The first T20I between West Indies and England on Wednesday will witness the introduction of a stop clock for the first time in international cricket. Aimed at restricting the time consumed between overs and quickening the pace of play, the stop clock is a part of a six-month experiment announced last month by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Accordingly, the bowling team will have to be ready to bowl the first ball of their next over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed. After two warnings, a third default by the bowling side will result in a five-run penalty imposed against them.
During the six-month duration, the stop clock will be used only in men’s ODIs and T20Is, and will be used as an additional deterrent apart from the ICC’s change in playing conditions from 2022 where slow over-rates would force fielding sides to keep one fewer fielder outside the circle in the final over of a game. These in-game sanctions are in addition to any monetary fine that teams have to pay for slow over-rates under the ICC’s playing conditions.
“We are continually looking at ways to speed up the pace of play across international cricket. The stop clock trial in white ball international cricket follows the introduction of a successful new playing condition in 2022, which resulted in the fielding team only being allowed four fielders outside of the inner circle if they were not in a position to bowl the first ball of their final over in the stipulated time,” Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager, Cricket said.
“The outcomes of the stop clock trial will be assessed at the end of the trial period,” he added.
The idea of a stop clock in cricket was proposed in 2018 by the MCC’s World Cricket Committee that included Ricky Ponting, Saurav Ganguly and Kumar Sangakkara, among others, to reduce the ‘dead-time’ between overs in international matches.
The five-match T20I series between West Indies and England will be held from December 13 to December 22, with the sides playing the series opener in Bridgetown, then moving to St George’s for two fixtures and finishing the series with two matches in Tarouba.