ICC to trial stop clock between overs, bans transgender women from women's international cricket

Other plans approved by the chief executives' committee (CEC) include equal pay for umpires across men's and women's cricket and changes to pitch and outfield monitoring regulations

The Cricketer | 21/11/2023 at 12:32

The ICC will trial a stop clock in men's ODIs and T20Is to tackle slow over rates in limited overs cricket.

As reported by The Cricketer on October 23, the ICC commissioned a study to look at where time in the game is lost, with early results suggesting the gap between overs is growing.

The trial, which was approved by the chief executives' committee (CEC) on November 21, will run from December 2023 and April 2024, with teams expected to be ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed.

A five-run penalty will be imposed the third time a team breaches the time limit in an innings.

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^{Plans are in place for equal pay for umpires in men's and women's cricket [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

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^{Changes to pitch and outfield monitoring regulations were approved [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

The CEC also committed to equalising match day pay for umpires across men's and women's cricket as well as ensuring there is one neutral umpire in every ICC Women's Championship series from January 2024. This is part of a plan to accelerate the development of female match officials.

Changes to pitch and outfield monitoring regulations were also approved, with the threshold for when a venue could have its international status removed increased from five demerit points over a five-year period to six points.

Elsewhere, the ICC board approved new gender eligibility regulations for international cricket based on the principles of "protection of the integrity of the women's game, safety, fairness and inclusion".

Under the new rules, which follow a nine-month consultation process led by the ICC medical advisory committee, "any male or female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to participate in the international women's game, regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken".

ICC chief executive, Geoff Allardice, said: "The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review.

"Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women's game and the safety of players."

In September 2023, Canada's Danielle McGahey became the first transgender woman to play international cricket when she played six times in the Women's T20 World Cup Americas regional qualifying tournament.

Tuesday's ruling only applies to international cricket, with individual boards allowed to make their own policies for domestic competitions.