ICC threatens ban for substandard pitches

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday threatened to suspend a venue for two years if it accumulated 10 demerit points for substandard pitches and outfields during international matches.

The ICC in its three-day meeting agreed to the changes made to the pitch and outfield monitoring process, which stated that venues and boards should be more accountable for the standard of pitches and outfields they present for international matches.

It also stated that there should be consequences for a venue if it presents conditions that make it unsafe for an international match to proceed, without mitigating circumstances or regularly presents substandard conditions for international cricket.

"It was agreed that a system of demerit points be introduced, similar to the new Code of Conduct System as per the table below. Demerit points will remain active for a rolling five year period," the global body said in a statement.

"When a venue accumulates five demerit points its ICC accreditation will be suspended for a period of 12 months. Should a venue reach 10 points its accreditation will be suspended for 24 months," it added.

The ICC also proposed that the top nine Test-playing countries will compete among themselves in a rolling two-year league and against the three lower-ranked teams.

Those three would comprise Zimbabwe, with Ireland and Afghanistan also in line to become full Test members provided, the ICC said, they met "membership criteria".

Meanwhile, a 13-team One-day International league would be run over a three-year period leading into qualification for the 2023 World Cup.

Plans are also in place for a regional Twenty20 competition structure to be developed as a pathway to qualification for the ICC World T20

The Chief Executives' Committee agreed to the principle of consistent use of DRS technology across all international cricket. A full implementation plan will be considered by the ICC Cricket Committee in May before approval in June 2017 for roll-out from October 2017.

--IANS

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