ICC vows to get stricter on ball-tampering

Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis got his wish on Monday when the International Cricket Council (ICC) exponentially increased the punishment for ball-tampering.

Those who fall foul of “illegally changing the condition of the ball” in future could be banned for six Tests or a dozen one-day internationals. The current maximum suspension is one Test or two ODIs. That’s the upshot of the heaviest sentence for a level three offence being increased from eight to 12 suspension points.

The new measures were approved at the ICC’s 75th annual conference in Dublin‚ which ended on Monday‚ and will come into force in October once they have been formalised in the next version of the code of conduct.

Asked on Sunday whether the ICC should hike the penalties for ball-tampering‚ Du Plessis said: “They have to. It’s happening too often. They need to do that [change the regulations] as quickly as possible. The penalties need to be harsher for ball-tampering.”

Du Plessis makes an unusual advocate for harsher sanctions considering he has been found guilty of ball-tampering twice in less than five years.

The ICC’s hand was no doubt forced by Cricket Australia’s (CA) serious punishment of Steve Smith‚ David Warner and Cameron Bancroft after the exposure of their plot to roughen the ball using sandpaper during the Newlands Test against South Africa in March.

CA immediately sacked Smith and Warner as Australia’s captain and vice-captain and banned them for a year‚ while Bancroft was suspended for nine months. Warner will not be considered for leadership positions in future‚ and Smith and Bancroft not for two years.

The ICC docked Smith his match fee and banned him for a match and Bancroft lost 75% of his fee and earned three demerit points. Warner got away scot-free.

Cricket’s new code of conduct will also include three new offences‚ according to an ICC release: “personal abuse”‚ uttering an “audible obscenity”‚ and “attempting to obtain an unfair advantage” by “cheating other than ball-tampering”.

“It is vital that there is a strong deterrent to both players and administrators to ensure we have high standards of conduct in our game‚” the release quoted ICC chair Shashank Manohar as saying. “We have more than a billion fans and we must not give any of them any reason to doubt the high levels of integrity within our sport.”

Stump microphones will be allowed to remain live even when the ball is dead; a departure from the current guidelines‚ which suggest they be turned down between deliveries.

That has allowed teams who sledge their opponents — primarily Australia — to get away with verbal abuse.

The ICC will consider how a national board could “be held liable for its players’ behaviour with appropriate sanctions to be imposed on boards when the accumulated number of offences by its players exceed certain thresholds”.

That could force a rethink of most boards‚ Cricket South Africa included‚ opting to support and defend their players when they get into trouble with the ICC.

Appeals of disciplinary decisions will in future attract an advance fee that will be refunded if the challenge succeeds.

“There is a clear desire here to reclaim cricket’s unique proposition as a game that people can trust in and for us all to live the spirit of cricket in a way that is relevant in the 21st century‚” the release quoted ICC chief executive David Richardson as saying.

“The board agreed that members should treat each other with respect as well as ensuring that their teams respect each other‚ the game and the match officials.”