The ICC has mandated the use of stop-clocks in between overs in limited-overs international matches, approved the playing conditions for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and announced the qualification process for the 2026 edition. The decisions were taken on Friday (15 March), following the ICC’s annual Board meetings,
The stop-clock is set to become permanent in all ODIs and T20Is from June 2024, starting with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA.
In December 2023, ICC introduced the stop clock on a trial basis in men’s limited-overs international matches. The trial was supposed to run until April 2024, but the experiment has already yielded results in terms of timely completion of matches.
Results presented to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) demonstrated that approximately 20 minutes had been saved per ODI match.
The feature has now been added as a mandatory playing condition in all Full Member ODI and T20I matches from 1 June 2024.
As per stop clock rule that was trialled in men’s white-ball cricket, the fielding side is expected to start a new over within 60 seconds of the completion of the previous over.
An electronic clock, counting down from 60 to zero, will be displayed on the ground, with the onus on the third umpire to determine the start of the clock.
The failure of the fielding side to be ready to bowl the first ball of their next over within the stipulated 60 seconds of the previous over being completed attracts two warnings. Subsequent breaches would lead to a five-run penalty per incident.
