Round-up of ICC's annual meeting: concussion subs, World Cup Qualifiers & more

Women’s CricZone takes a look at some of the major decisions made during the meeting that impact women’s cricket.

2020 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers
Sri Lanka, who are languishing at the bottom of the ICC Women’s Championship table with only two points from 15 games, will host the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2020. They have two remaining series, first against Australia in October and then against New Zealand at home.

Sri Lanka will be joined by the other two lowest ranked teams in the table and qualifiers from Europe, East Asia Pacific, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Zimbabwe suspended
The ICC suspended Zimbabwe with immediate effect after the Zimbabwe Cricket Board was found guilty of being in breach of Article 2.4 (c) and (d) of the ICC Constitution. The clause imposes that Member Boards must provide a process for free and democratic elections and ensure there is no government interference in the process.

As a result of this decision, funding from the ICC will be stopped and representative teams from Zimbabwe will not be allowed to participate in any ICC events. The ICC will continue to monitor the progress of the elections in Zimbabwe and discuss the same during their meeting in October.

“We do not take the decision to suspend a Member lightly, but we must keep our sport free from political interference,” said Shashank Manohar, chairman of the ICC. “What has happened in Zimbabwe is a serious breach of the ICC Constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked. The ICC wants cricket to continue in Zimbabwe in accordance with the ICC Constitution.”

Concussion substitutes
After a two-year trial of the same at domestic level, ICC approved concussion player replacements in all formats of men’s and women’s international and First-Class cricket. This will come into effect from August 1.

As per ICC rules, the concussion substitute will be a ‘like-for-like replacement’ to the player being replaced and will be subject to the approval of the Match Referee.

“The introduction of the substitutes has been well received across Australian cricket by players, coaches and medical staff,” said Alex Kountouris, CA’s Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager. “It has allowed medical staff to assess players with suspected concussion during matches free of the pressures of leaving a team one player short.”

“Additionally, the rule will also allow players to declare symptoms of concussion (that can sometimes occur well after the incident), knowing that their team will not be disadvantaged.”

Women’s committee
The women’s committee met for the first time after recomposition. Clare Connor was retained as Chair of the Committee, and she was joined by Warren Ceutrom, CEO of Cricket Ireland, and Wasim Khan, CEO of Pakistan Cricket Board. Saba Karim, from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and Belinda Clark, representing Cricket Australia, were voted in as co-opted representatives. Natalie Germanos, the South African journalist, is the media representative, while Lisa Sthalekar, Sana Mir and Mithali Raj are player representatives. Mark Robinson, head coach of England is the coach representative.

“We want to drive the transformative global growth of the sport and that needs to be a collective effort involving the whole sport thinking big and thinking differently to deliver greater engagement in our sport," said Manu Sawhney, ICC CEO. "Women’s cricket can play a significant role in this growth and as such I welcome the members of the newly constituted ICC Women’s Committee."

Slow over-rate
While slow over rate is rarely ever an issue in women’s cricket, the ICC— based on recommendations from the Cricket Committee agreed that captains will no longer be suspended for repeated slow over rate issues. Instead, all players will be fined the same amount as the captain.