Send-off law to target poor behaviour in lower-level cricket

Behaviour at lower levels of cricket has “got completely out of hand,” according to former Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

Ponting is a member of the MCC world cricket committee that recommended the introduction of an in-game disciplinary sanction, which aims to combat poor behaviour by allowing umpires to send players off if they are guilty of violent or threatening actions.

Under guidelines suggested by the committee, umpires will – for the first time in the game’s history – be able to send off any player in a match if they are deemed to have threatened an umpire, physically assaulted another player, umpire, official or spectator, or committed any other act of violence on the field of play.

Under the change to the Laws recommended, a player sent off would not be allowed any further involvement in the game.

“The reason we are talking about making significant changes to lower level cricket is because it has got completely out of hand down there,” Ponting said. “We have got to the stage that something had to be done to prevent these things happening.”

While the initiative is designed primarily to deal with cases of poor behaviour at the grass-roots levels of the game, it is likely to come into effect at all levels from October 1, 2017 if, as expected, it is ratified by the main MCC committee at their meeting in February.

“A recent survey by Portsmouth University showed that 40% of British umpires were considering giving up because of verbal abuse,” Mike Brearley, the chairman of the MCC world cricket committee and a former England captain, said. “And anecdotal evidence from people familiar …

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