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In accordance with the new stop-clock rules implemented to quicken the tempo of play in Twenty20 Internationals, the USA became the first team to incur penalties.
They were hit with the penalty during a pivotal part of India’s chase in New York. The punishment is applied if the fielding side fails to start the following over within a minute of the preceding one concluding three times in an innings.
In their T20 World Cup group match, India required 35 runs at the beginning of the 16th over and found themselves in a difficult situation on a challenging batting field. However, following the penalty, the equation was lowered to 30 off 30 balls. After that, India defeated the USA by seven wickets with 10 balls remaining.
The stop clock to help speed up over rates became a permanent feature in men’s ODIs and T20Is from June 1. The relevant regulation says: “The clock will be used to regulate the amount of time taken between overs. If the bowling team is not ready to bowl the next over within 60 seconds of the previous over being completed, a five-run penalty will be imposed the third time it happens in an innings.”
In terms of over rates, the trial conducted for this playing condition produced positive outcomes. When the ICC approved the rule for all men’s international limited-overs cricket matches, it stated, “The results of the stop-clock trial were presented to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), which demonstrated that around 20 minutes per ODI match had been saved in time.” This is the first five-run punishment for this infraction because no team was found to have gone over the one-minute limit between overs three times in an innings during the testing period.
Aaron Jones, the USA’s acting captain in place of the injured Monank Patel, was seen receiving an explanation from the umpires about what had happened.
It’s not like the penalty took USA by surprise.
“Yeah, we talk about this,” USA coach Stuart Law said at a press conference after the game. “We had a few warnings in earlier games, and it’s something we do talk about to get through faster between the overs. It’s just one thing that we can improve on. I think that we’re only a fledgling team. There’s plenty to learn.
“There’s not just the cricket aspect of the game of cricket, but there’s also the other intricacies that need to be embedded [among the players]. It’s a rule that’s only just come in. A lot of our players wouldn’t have heard about it before we played in the Bangladesh series or the Canada series earlier this year. So, look, it’s something that we need to address, we’ll sit down and talk about, but we can improve it, yeah.”