The International Cricket Council’s cricket committee has recommended abolishing the use of two new balls in ODIs.

The world body is also considering the use of in-game clocks in Test matches to manage over rates. At least 90 overs are mandatory in a day in Test matches, but several teams struggle to meet the regulations.

Converting the U-19 men’s World Cup into a T20 format is also on the ICC’s agenda. The U-19 World Cup has been held as a 50-over contest thus far.

The cricket committee has also advocated changes to the rule governing wides on the leg stump in ODIs. According to the exisiting rule, “the ball will be considered as passing wide of the striker unless it is sufficiently within reach for him/her to be able to hit it with the bat by means of a normal cricket stroke”.

The recommendations will be discussed in detail during the ongoing ICC board meetings in Harare and will be put in place soon.

In 50-overs cricket, currently, two white balls are being used simultaneously from either end of the wicket with each ball lasting 25 overs. The fast bowlers have often complained of being unable to extract reverse swing, making the contest heavily loaded in favour of the batters.

The Sourav Ganguly-chaired cricket committee has taken a pragmatic view of the problem in a bid to restore a balance between the bat and ball in a 50-over match.

Under the proposed rule changes, a team will be allowed to bowl with two balls till the 25th over, and after that, the bowling team will have the option to use one of the two balls for the remainder of the match.

Sachin Tendulkar had come down heavily on the practice of using two balls in ODIs. “Having two new balls in one-day cricket is a perfect recipe for disaster as each ball is not given the time to get old enough to reverse. We haven’t seen reverse swing, an integral part of the death overs, for a long time,” Tendulkar had said in a social media post.

Former Pakistan batter and current batting coach Mohammad Yousuf too had spoken on similar lines in an interview to The Telegraph during the 2023 World Cup.

“Bowling is really tough in today’s cricket when compared to batting. Two new balls and five fielders inside the circle till 40 overs... If these restrictions were in place when Sachin Tendulkar was playing, he could have added a few more thousand runs.

“Sachin had an average of 44.83 in ODIs while most players today have in excess of 50. The use of two new balls has loaded the game heavily in favour of the batters,” Yousuf had said. “Bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Afridi who excel in these circumstances should be considered very good... (since) they don’t get reverse swing with the two white balls in place.”

For better over-rates, having a 60-second upper limit between each over in the playing conditions for Tests is also under consideration. This is being done to ensure that 90 overs in a day are completed when there is no weather interruption.