Injury subs are being trialled this season
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I think this is generally a good idea, but I’m interested to see what the criteria is and how it is applied.
Seems we’re piggybacking an Aussie idea like…
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Generally, I’m getting quite excited for the county summer now. It’s been absolutely freezing today like, so it seems like ‘summer’ is miles away but I’ve got a week of annual leave this week and I know that’ll fly over so the cricket season will be here before we know it.
Injury subs are being trialled this season
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The article in full:
Injury replacements are set to be introduced for the upcoming season, The Cricketer understands, after the Professional Game Committee met on Wednesday.
The ECB has been keeping tabs on trials elsewhere in the cricketing universe as the governing body weighed up the feasibility of bringing them into the County Championship and its white-ball tournaments.
The first-class competitions in Australia, India and South Africa have run similar experiments with the concept through their ongoing domestic seasons.
The topic has been long debated, not least during last summer's Test series between England and India, which ended with Chris Woakes walking out to bat with his arm in a sling after dislocating his shoulder on the opening day. Concussion substitutes were introduced across English domestic cricket in 2018, in the interest of player safety, and Covid changes later became an unavoidable part of the game, but the discussion around injury replacements more broadly has been hotly contested.
The subject was raised at a meeting of the Cricket Advisory Group in October and then in greater detail when the committee reconvened in February.
That led to its recommendation for the PGC's approval, and it is understood that there was little objection when discussed. The proposal will now be brought to the ECB board for ratification, with the season starting in under a month's time. It would run initially as a trial, with nothing set in stone for the long-term.
There are no official criteria for the regulations around a player replacement, but it has previously been feared that such a system would lead to a slippery slope that could be exploited. The evidence from Australia, however, has been positive in that regard, with replacements few and far between.
"We're just trying to keep the evenness and fairness of 11-versus-11 contests going," said Peter Roach, Cricket Australia's cricket operations manager, speaking in December.
Specific regulations for the Sheffield Shield have been drawn up so that an injured or unwell player can be replaced up until stumps on the second day of a four-day match. As part of that, the opposing team has then been allowed to make a tactical substitution, should they wish, to match the freshness of the injury replacement. The match referee determines the legitimacy of the request for a substitution and has the power to restrict the scope of the replacement's role if, for example, a batter who bowls is lined up to take the place of an injured batter who doesn't bowl.
In an attempt to prevent sides from gaming the system, any injured or ill player stood down is then unable to be selected for the next 12 days. It is believed that the English version would include a stand-down period of eight days, with any replacement having to be like-for-like.
The Cricketer also understands that 'exceptional circumstances' replacements are also expected to be introduced in the case of urgent personal reasons or compassionate grounds.
In 2024, Blair Tickner was compelled to complete a match for Derbyshire, at the start of which his wife had been diagnosed with leukaemia because the regulations prevented him being replaced.
Last summer, Darren Lehmann, Northamptonshire's head coach, called for a change to that playing condition after Derbyshire seamer Zak Chappell was forced to open the batting against his side in a Division Two game last summer, in order for his participation in the game to be complete by the end of the third day.
"When something's happening in your personal life and it's something serious, you should be able to leave the ground," said Lehmann. "And Derby should have been able to replace him. So, they could have just opened with a normal player and not worry about when he has to go. I'm big on that."
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