What actions would ICC take on ball tampering & on field behaviour?

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Kolkata: After the ball tampering incident by Australian cricketers during their South Africa tour International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Dave Richardson called for “stricter and heavier sanction” for any such activity as well as showing disrespect for the game.

“We had a very good discussion on both forums (Chief Executive Committee and board meeting). We want to move towards stricter and heavier sanctions for ball tampering and all other offences that are indicative of a lack of respect for your opponent, the game, umpires, for fans, for the media etc,” Richardson told reporters at the end of a five-day ICC quarterly meet here.

“This includes offenses like using abusive languages, sledging, sendoffs after a batsman is dismissed, dissent at umpire decisions,” he added.

Richardson said that, icc wants to form a committee headed by former Indian skipper Anil Kumble to put proper penalties in place for the offences.

“We want penalties in place which act as a proper deterrent. Fines are not proving to be the answer and we will ask the cricket committee to review our current penalties related to each of those type of offences and come forward with recommendations to the Chief Executives Committee and the Board in June-July.”

Richardson further said there will be an additional panel in place to police on field behaviour which will have the likes of former Australia skipper Allan Border and former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock.

“We are putting together a panel, we are trying to confirm the availability but the people we are trying to get are those like Richie Richardson, Allan Border, Shaun Pollock to help us make some recommendations that will, in the end, prove an effective deterrent against poor player behaviour.”

Richardson said the events which occurred in the third Test at Cape Town which resulted in Aussie skipper Steve Smith, deputy David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft being banned, was an eye-opener. The former South Africa wicketkeeper batsman added that the ICC were unhappy with a few on field issues before this.

“But that’s only one part of it. We also want to encourage behaviour which epitomises the spirit of cricket. I think the biggest eye-opener for people in cricket was the reaction to the recent incidents in the series between Australia and South Africa.

“But quite frankly, we were worried about poor behaviour before the third Test (in Cape Town) where the ball tampering occured. There have been too many incidents of sledging and ugly abusive language being used, dissent etc. What we need to try and do is, we have got the spirit of cricket but what does that mean? We need to define what that means in modern day and age. We want to develop a culture of respect across the game both on and off the field.”

Meanwhile, Richardson also said that, “There is still an option for member teams to play test matches if they want to which will be on a bilateral basis. In all likelihood, there will be very few test matches played. I know both England and Australia want to keep test cricket going but there are not many other countries which have the same desire.

“Again, T20 cricket is probably the favoured format of the game, especially in the women’s game. The focus will be on using T20 cricket to create more competitive teams. At the moment, I would say 10 teams can compete against eachother. We need to grow that.”

Richardson added that the second edition of the ICC Women’s Championship was a success.

“From a competition point of view, we have just started the second edition of the women’s championship. I thought that worked really well last time. It gave more competition opportunities to teams like South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. I thought their performances in the World Cup last year showed that.”