Punishment gets Harsher for the Ball-Tampering Offence

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will impose a ban of six Tests or Twelve ODIs for ball-tampering.

The ball-tampering will now be counted under the Level 3 offence of the ICC’s code of conduct. Earlier, the ball-tampering was under the Level 1 offence and carried a ban of only one Test match.

Furthermore, stringent punishments will be levied by the governing body in case of personal abuse by the players. The new amendments got decided at the ICC Annual Conference which concluded in Dublin on Monday.

ICC comes up with Severe Punishments.

Consequently, the Level 3 offence will now carry 12 suspension points, as compared to earlier eight demerit points. Thus, the punishments are going to be severe for the players caught trying to alter the condition of the ball.

In fact, the match referee will hear the Level 1 to Level 3 charges. Meanwhile, the Judicial Commissioner will take care of Level 4 sanctions.

“It has been a productive week of meetings here in Dublin. Thus, it has been good to have all ICC Members in attendance at our 75th Annual Conference. I and my fellow Board directors were unanimous in supporting the recommendations of the Cricket Committee and Chief Executives’ Committee to drive improved behavior across our sport,” ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar said.

“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. 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,” he added.

Meanwhile, the ICC woke up after the aftermath of ball tampering by the Australian team in the Cape Town Test.

The governing body had promised it would come up with harsh punishments after Cricket Australia gave severe penalties to its players.