Following its board meetings in Dubai this week, the ICC confirmed that the stop clock, which helps expedite over rates, will be a permanent element in men’s ODIs and T20Is between Full Members starting on June 1.
The regulation states that the fielding side must be prepared to begin an over within a minute of the previous one concluding. It has been tested in international cricket since December of last year. The umpires will give them two warnings if they don’t comply, and if they don’t, they will be penalised five runs for the third violation and each one after that.
“The results of the stop-clock trial were presented to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), which demonstrated that around 20 minutes per ODI match had been saved in time,” an ICC said in a statement laying out the reasons for making the rule permanent. During the trial period, no team was found to have exceeded the one-minute limit between overs three times in an innings, and so the five-run penalty has not yet been imposed for this offence.
A fielding penalty and monetary fines are two additional punishments that can be applied to control over-rates in limited-overs cricket in addition to the stop clock.
The fielding side will be assessed a fielding penalty of bringing an additional fielder into the 30-yard circle for the number of overs left in the innings if they are unable to start the final over of the innings by the designated cut-off time, which takes into account any delays. For the duration of the penalty, they will only be permitted to have four fielders outside the circle as opposed to five. Introduced in the beginning of 2022, this regulation is applicable to limited-overs games for both men and women.
After the umpires have allowed for unavoidable delays, the team’s match fee will be reduced by 5% for each over that they fail to reach the minimum needed over rate. The captain is subject to a fine that is double that of his teammates, with fines limited at half of the match price.
Reserve days will be set aside for the semi-finals and final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies in June, just in case of unforeseen circumstances. And in order for a game to be considered finished in either of those knockout matches, at least 10 overs must be played in each innings. As is customary in T20 cricket, a match must consist of five overs per side to qualify for the group rounds.
Like the next edition, there will be 20 countries competing in the Men’s T20 World Cup of 2026. Of those teams, 12 will automatically qualify, including the two hosts, India and Sri Lanka, as well as the other teams that advanced to the Super Eights of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The next highest-ranked teams in the ICC T20I rankings on June 30, 2024, will determine two to four teams (there will be less than four if India or Sri Lanka finish outside the top eight in 2024). The standard regional qualifying process will determine the final eight berths for 2026.
