New Delhi: Players can now be sent off for serious breaches of behaviour and hitting sixes may no longer be easy as MCC has issued updated laws of the game which will be used from Ocotiber 1, 2017.
The new laws follow the recommendations of the MCC Cricket Committee from their meeting in Mumbai last December.
"We felt the time had come to introduce sanctions for poor player behaviour and research told us that a growing number of umpires at grass roots level were leaving the game because of it," John Stephenson, the MCC's head of cricket, said.
"Hopefully these sanctions will give them more confidence to handle disciplinary issues efficiently, whilst providing a deterrent to the players."
Regarding the size of the bat, an MCC statement said, "If the bat (held by the hand) or another part of the batsman's person is grounded beyond the popping crease and this contact with the ground is subsequently lost when the wicket is put down, the batsman will be protected from being run out if he/she is running or diving and has continued forward momentum towards the stumps and beyond."
It means the likes of Australian opening batsman David Warner will have to rely on a bat with a significantly thinner spine than he has been using in recent seasons. The size of bats has become more of an issue since the advent of Twenty20 cricket, where batters attack the ball from the first over of the game.
Here are the new rules
- Excessive appealing and showing dissent at an umpire's decision will be followed by an official warning, repetition will result in five penalty runs being awarded to the opposing team.
- Offences including throwing the ball at a player or making deliberate physical contact with an opponent during play will result in the immediate awarding of five penalty runs to the opposing team.
- Offences including intimidating an umpire or threatening to assault another player, team official or spectator will result in five penalty runs and a removal of the offending player from the field for a set number of overs, depending on the format of the match.
- Offences like threatening an umpire or committing any act of violence on the field of play, will result in five penalty runs and the removal of the offending player for the remainder of the match. If the player is batting at the time of the offence, he/she will be recorded as 'retired out'.
- A batter will no longer be deemed run out if he or she has touched down across the crease and the bails are dislodged while the bat bounces. Changes will also make it easier for a bowler to run out a batter at the non-striker's end before the ball is bowled.
- The maximum dimensions of a cricket bat will be set at 108 millimeters for width, 67 millimeters in depth and 40 millimeters for the edges.