A red to pink ball? MCC official clarifies how ICC’s new trial version will work

The ICC allows the use of a pink ball Bengaluru: As cricket continues to evolve, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has made a number of changes to its playing conditions, effective from October 1. Some of these changes included a pink ball trial in Tests and a time-wasting penalty.Fraser Stewart, head of cricket at Marylebone Cricket Club, opened up about the law in a media interaction on Monday.Modern cricket is batsman friendly and now the ICC playing conditions say five penalty runs for time loss. Is this a way to level the playing field?The law has always been there. It’s rarely been enacted and I think now the ICC has said yes, we’re going to try to tighten it up a bit. I think the more we can do to speed up the game, the better. Otherwise, the public who pay a lot of money to watch cricket feel inadequate.I think what the umpires are trying to do is make the players aware that there are laws that cover this and if you waste time it will catch up and there will be a runs penalty in the game rather than a fine.For the pink ball in the daily tests…This is an ICC playing condition rather than a law of cricket. I believe in a bilateral series, say India playing Australia, it is up to them to agree between themselves on a particular game, do we use the pink ball?Some people thought you could start with a red orb and then switch to pink when it gets a little dark. That is not, as I understand it, what is happening. They both have to agree and if they are happy to play with the pink ball maybe because they think it will mean more play after bad weather.One of the big problems is excessive rates. How is MCC acting on this matter?The laws provide a remedy, both for batting and bowling. It’s up to the umpires to enforce those laws and if they think the pace of play is too slow, whether it’s the fielding captain or the batsmen, and they say, you’re on a warning; it will result in penalty rides.But the referees have to enforce it and be supported by the match officials.