The International Cricket Council (ICC) is all set to review the behavior of the players, the spirit in which cricket is played and the Code of Conduct. The wide-ranging review will take place under the jurisdiction of the ICC Chief Executive David Richardson and they will have discussions related to the standards of the behavior of the players on the field in order to develop a culture of respect.
ICC’s review process will focus on two things: firstly, the ICC Code of Conduct, reviewing the levels of offense based on the impact of the offense, making the code of conduct even more clear that will constitute each offense and reviewing the sanctions that should apply to the various offenses. Secondly, the establishment of a ‘spirit of cricket code’ based on a culture of respect, which will define the actual definition of playing in modern day cricket and it will be finalized after having opinions from former players, match officials, the MCC, and current players.
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Talking about the same, ICC CEO, Mr. Dave Richardson said: “There has been significant debate over the last few weeks around the behavior of players and the leniency or otherwise in some cases of the associated punishments. The match officials work within the framework of the current ICC Code of Conduct and sanctions are applied according to that. To go outside of this current framework would be to disregard the rules.”
Richardson is seeing this as a perfect opportunity to transform the look of the game which will be based on the 21st century. The review will also help them to have a see the bigger picture of the current issues of cricket and it will also help them to define what a spirit or respect code looks like in modern day game.
Speaking on the same lines as quoted in Cricketnext, Richardson added, “The spirit of the game, contained in the preamble of The Laws of Cricket, is something unique to our sport and the review will consider how we can proactively make players and indeed everyone involved in the game, more accountable for the role they have in upholding the Spirit of Cricket. Respect is central to the Spirit of Cricket and rebuilding and maintaining a culture of respect that can be embedded in the game is fundamental to what this review is trying to achieve.”
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He further elaborated, “We want this review to be collaborative and have a long-term positive impact on the game and we will bring together a cultural cross-section of players who played in a manner that epitomized fair play as well as the ICC Cricket Committee, the MCC, match officials and, of course, current players. The outcomes of this group, which will be convened as soon as is practically possible, will go through the ICC Cricket Committee and to the ICC Board for discussion and adoption.”
At last, the ICC CEO commended the big steps taken by the Cricket Australia in the recent turns of events related to the ball-tampering episode. He also thanked all the ICC Members for providing immense support in the process of reviewing as they are looking forward to turning around recent issues and re-establish respect for the game.
