ICC scraps super-sub

Published March 21, 2006

LONDON, March 20: The International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Monday it would scrap the super-sub trial in one-day internationals and introduce a formal pitch-monitoring process for international cricket.

“This process, which has been adopted with immediate effect, includes potential sanctions ranging from a formal warning to a member board fine or even suspension of international status for venues that produce substandard pitches,” it said in a statement after meeting in Dubai.

The board’s decision on the use of super-subs follows last month’s recommendation by ICC chief executives, who felt the rule placed too much importance on winning the toss in one-dayers.

The intention of the substitution rule was to encourage teams to make greater use of all-rounders but in practice teams have used specialists to fill a void.—Agencies