ICC to review chucking process

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to take a second look at the process of tackling bowlers with suspect actions. The new method proposes to reduce the procedure from a two-stage process to a single-stage one, wherein the bowler with the suspect action will be directly dealt with by the ICC's Bowling Review Group. In the earlier method, the bowler was first handed over to his home board for remedial measures. Only if that proved unsuccessful did the ICC step in.

The recommendation was made by the Cricket Committee - Management (CC-M) on the first day of the ICC's weeklong meetings. The ICC will now review the process and report back to the CC-M's next meeting with its recommendations.

The CC-M also decided to continue with neutral umpires for Test matches, rejecting the suggestion that umpires from the elite panel could officiate irrespective of the country to which they belonged. It has been proposed that this decision be reviewed by the Cricket Committee - Playing (CC-P) at its next meeting in March-April 2004.

The CC-M also took up the issue of illegal bats, stating that any player found guilty of using one would be charged with a Level 2 breach of ICC's Code of Conduct - the fine for which could be the entire match fee, and a one-Test or two-ODI ban - while the manufacturer would be struck off their approved list.

Among other issues discussed were the Global Cricket Corporation's compensation claim against the ICC for the 2003 World Cup. The matter will come up for detailed discussion when the board of the ICC Development (International) Ltd, ICC's commercial arm, meets in Monaco on Friday.

On the agenda on Tuesday is a meeting among the ICC's associate members, who will discuss means to further spread the game in those countries. The recommendations made by the associate members will be heard in the ICC's executive board meeting on Wednesday.