Tuesday, February 27

World Cup Regulations

Over at Zainub’s I find a curious article. The Dawn reports that there are a few rule changes in the World Cup, but chooses not to say when or where this was announced, or by who. Given that some of the so-called changes are not insignificant, it’s a trifle strange.

For one, there’s the bit about edges. Once an umpire refers a catch for the usual reasons (bump ball/clean catch), if the 3rd umpire notices that there is actually no nick he can convey this to the on-field umpire. It will then be given not out. What about fine nicks? Nicks that require the Snickometer?

Also, they claim a 5-stage system will be introduced to decide which team go through in the event of a tie. I would think the regular ones are head-to-head, number of total wins and NRR, but they will also be bowl outs, though no details are given. If I am not mistaken, bowl outs were also the last option in ties for the previous edition of the WC.

Either way, its odd none of this has been reported anywhere, which means The Dawn are either very well connected or very alert.

update: I find these condition are in fact present in the ICC’s WC 2007 regulations. What they state is pretty much how I have interpreted above for the caught decisions. The system for tied matches is also outlined, though surprisingly head-to-head results will be relevant only as a 4th level of decision making.
Also, a tie in the semis will mean an immediate bowl out. So South Africa's '99 plight is not an option this time.

update2: there was a cricinfo report day before.

2 comments:

Amit Bajaj said...

it's interesting that the playing conditions that you have provided the link for make no mention of another strange super-eight qualification rule which is mentioned on the icc official site on the schedule page. i had talked about it in one of my posts on cricket et cetera . Surprisingly i'm yet to find anyone else who has talked about it. Would like to see your comments on that one.

shakester said...

hi amit, welcome here...
I'd heard about that bit of scheduling earlier, never got around to commenting on it.
i left a response on your blog, and I think I will post on this later today...