By IANS
Dubai, The newly constituted International Cricket Council’s (ICC) cricket committee is to discuss host of issue including the use of glue on cricket pitches, ball-tampering, one-day regulations, volume of cricket and role of television umpire.
Following the use of glue on pitches in Britain, New Zealand and India, the committee has been asked to discuss the principle of using adhesives in the preparation of pitches. It has also been asked to determine a policy concerning its use for international matches.
The new constituted body will be chaired by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and includes former Australia captain Mark Taylor, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene and former West Indies great Michael Holding. They will be meeting Wednesday.
It also features Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, chief ICC match referee and Ranjan Madugalle, Scotland captain Craig Wright and Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody.
The new structure is designed to be representative of all interests in the modern game and replaces the previous committee, which was made up of the nominated representatives from each of the full members and leading associates of the ICC.
The issue of ball tampering has assumed prime importance following the events at the Test match in August last year when the umpires awarded the match to England on the grounds of Pakistan’s refusal to play after it was accused of tampering with the ball.
The committee has been asked to consider whether, in future, action should be taken against the captain and person responsible for ball tampering or just the person responsible and whether it is necessary to legislate to make it compulsory for umpires to first warn a captain before taking action.
They are likely to decipher if any amendments are required in defining ball tampering as contained in the laws or to the guidelines relating to this offence as set out in the ICC Code of Conduct.
Besides the committee will also discuss power-plays, over rates, ball changes, a free-hit for batsmen following a front-foot, no-ball and the size of boundaries.
The regulations that allow on-field umpires to consult the TV officials on the subject of clean catches are also likely to come up in the meeting.
Any such amendment would allow the on-field umpires to consult with the TV umpire on decisions relating to catches they were unsure about and also allow the TV umpire to initiate contact.
The committee will also be asked to consider whether it should recommend a trial run for the use of player appeals to the TV umpire at this year’s ICC Twenty20 World Championships if such a system, currently being under experimented in the domestic one-day cricket in England, proves successful.