New rules allow county substitutions for injury, illness and childbirth

County cricket is introducing radical new rules this season that will allow players to be replaced mid-match for “significant life events” including childbirth and family emergencies, as well as allowing injury and illness replacements for the first time.

At present, counties are only allowed to bring in replacement players during a four-day County Championship match because of concussion or international call-ups, while in the case of an injury or illness only a substitute fielder is permitted. However, from this season substitutes will be allowed to bat and bowl — although the replacement must be a “like-for-like” for the absent player.

It is a significant change, which the ECB believes will bring it in line with other professional team sports. In the past, some matches in the competition have been devalued by one team effectively being reduced to ten or even nine players because of injury or illness.

The change in regulations is being introduced at the request of the International Cricket Council, which has asked the national boards to run trials on replacement players. Competitions in India, South Africa and Australia started allowing injury replacements in their most recent seasons.

However, the ECB has gone further by incorporating illnesses and “life events”. There are, on average, four cases each season where a player’s partner goes into labour unexpectedly early, meaning they need to leave the game. One recent example which prompted the ECB to review its regulations was when the Derbyshire player Blair Tickner’s wife was taken seriously ill during a match and the ECB said it was “uncomfortable” to have to tell the club to play the rest of the match with ten players.

Under the new regulations, the affected player can be substituted at any point in the match and there is no limit on the number of players who can be replaced.

Based on the recent trial of injury replacements in Australia’s Sheffield Shield competition, the ECB expects there to be an injury replacement request at least once in every four matches throughout the season and around the same amount for illnesses or life events.

This is a radical change for county cricket, which covers both men and women across all formats, and the ECB has put in place some safeguards to prevent abuse of the new rules. In the case of injury or illness, the chief medical officer at the county must certify that it is legitimate and in the case of a significant life event, the county’s chief executive officer must agree with their opposite number that the situation does require a replacement player. The substitute must then be approved by the match referee. For example, a seam bowler must be replaced by another seam bowler, to prevent any tactical advantage.

In addition, the player who has left the match is not then allowed to play again for at least another eight days in any form of county cricket. They would, however, be allowed to play in the Hundred, even if that match occurs fewer than eight days after they have been replaced.

Click here to read article