The ICC will trial a new wide ball rule in ODI and T20I cricket, designed to help bowlers when faced with a batter shuffling across their stumps before or during a delivery.
The trial was announced as part of a raft of rule-updates from the ICC issued today (June 27), which also included changes to the concussion sub rule.
What was the previous rule?
Under section 22.1 of the ICC men's white-ball playing conditions, the umpire shall adjudge a bowler has bowled a wide "unless it is sufficiently within reach for him [the batter] to be able to hit it with the bat by means of a normal cricket stroke". The previous rule also states that a wide will be adjudged according to that definition if "the ball passes wide of where the striker is standing and also would have passed wide of the striker standing in a normal batting position".
This rule has meant that when batters have shuffled to the off side before or as the ball is being bowled, deliveries which would have been within reach of batters in a normal stance have been exaggeratedly down the leg side and well out of their reach. Balls bowled behind the legs of batters (down the leg side), are adjudged wide to prevent negative bowling tactics. That rule is applied strictly in white-ball cricket because of the over limits.
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Bowlers can sometimes attempt to 'follow' batters when they see them moving around in their crease before the ball is bowled, although that is not always possible.
What is the change to the wide rule being trialled?
The rule change concerns the reference point for judging a wide used by the umpire. A press release from the ICC stated: "The position of the batter’s legs at the point of delivery will now be used as the reference point for a wide, even if the batter subsequently moves across to the off side.
"The trial will see a ball that passes the popping crease between the leg stump and the protected area marker not being called a wide. To help with this, the protected area marker line will be extended to the popping crease and act as a guide for the umpires."
In practice, this means wherever the batter is standing at the point of the delivery determines the area that can be considered wide, particularly down the leg side. A ball will no longer automatically be called wide if it is bowled wide of leg stump but within the protected area marker line, which sits in between the normal wide markers on the pitch and the leg stump, but more towards the leg stump.
This will stop the exaggeration of wides bowled by batters shuffling across, as those balls that fall in between the leg stump and protected area marker line will be deemed within the batter's reach when standing in a normal stance.
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