The ICC has announced a series of changes to its Playing Conditions, set to come into effect from June 2025 in Test cricket, and from July in white-ball internationals.
The most notable change is a revision to the concussion substitution protocol, after the rule came under scrutiny during India’s T20I series against England at the start of the year.
Under the new guidelines, teams must submit a list of five designated concussion replacements to the match referee before the start of each match. This list must include one player each in the roles of wicketkeeper, batter, seam bowler, spinner, and all-rounder. In rare cases where a substitute also sustains a concussion, the match referee is authorised to approve a replacement outside the pre-nominated list, provided they meet the existing like-for-like criteria.
The change follows debates around India replacing Shivam Dube with Harshit Rana in the fourth India-England T20I. Dube, a batting all-rounder, who has bowled only 72.4 overs in 89 T20s over the last three years, was substituted for Rana, a specialist fast bowler, who went on to take three wickets. The decision raised concerns over whether India gained a competitive advantage, particularly given the helpful conditions for pace bowlers.
The current law allows teams to pick a like-for-like replacement for a concussed player, with the match referee taking into consideration the role that the concussed player would have played in the remainder of the game when approving replacements.
The updated playing conditions will apply from the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, starting on June 17 in Galle. The ODI and T20I changes will take effect from July 2 and July 10, respectively, during Sri Lanka’s limited-overs series against Bangladesh. The current protocols will remain in place for the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s, beginning June 11.
A return to single ball in ODIs: New ICC Playing Conditions
In addition to the concussion rule update, the ICC has also confirmed a significant change regarding the two new balls in ODIs. The current practice of using two new balls, one from each end, will be modified. Under the revised rule, two balls will be used from overs 1 to 34, after which the fielding team must select one to complete overs 35 to 50.
In matches reduced to 25 overs or fewer, only one new ball will be used per innings.
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