ICC mulls changes

The International Cricket Council's (ICC)'s influential Cricket Committee has recommended some structural changes to the game after the conclusion of its two-day meeting at Lord's on Wednesday.

The committee, chaired by Anil Kumble, believed that the dimensions of cricket bats should be limited in order to help achieve a better balance between bat and ball. It also expressed concern over the quality of pitches prepared for Test matches, which normally favour the home team.

Further, the committee was worried that many international players still failed to wear helmets which met the British Safety Standards, but it declined a move proposed by Cricket Australia to introduce substitutes in the event of a player suffering a concussion.

On the issue of the Decision Review System, which is widely implemented but still faces stiff opposition from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the committee said they were reviewing the system based on a presentation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology panel.

ICC chief executive Dave Richardson also chimed in with his two cents, saying that in order to improve the competitiveness of Test matches visiting teams should be given a more flexible schedule so that they would have more time to acclimatise to foreign conditions.

"It's not good where the home team seems to have such a huge advantage and I know the record over the last two or so years and the home team comes out on top much of the time," Richardson told AFP in an interview. “That's partly down to the fact I think that teams don't allow enough time to acclimatise."

The situation faced by Sri Lanka, who bucked the trend by winning a two-match series in England 1-0 in 2014, is one familiar to many touring teams.

"That means reducing the workload on players and also allowing time for teams to play that extra warm-up game which will give them more of a chance to acclimatise."

There were also recommendations on the structure of international cricket with plans to bring context to each format. The ICC press release also stated that 'day-night Test cricket needs to be delivered to a consistently high standard across all member countries if the concept is to be successful'.