With the recent ban on bunny hop catches coming into effect in June, a series of rule changes have been introduced in men’s international cricket. Some of these updates are already in place for the ongoing World Test Championship, which began earlier this month. New rules for One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) will also be implemented starting the first week of June.
On June 26, The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved several changes to playing conditions recently for men’s international cricket, including the Boundary Law and one-ball rule in ODIs from the 35th over.
While come of these rules have already come into force during the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27, the rules for white-ball formats will come in effect from July 2 onwards. A year after the introduction of the rule in limited-overs cricket, the ICC has decided to bring it in red-ball cricket, where slow-over-rates have been a massive problem for years.
The changes were recommended by the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee, headed by Sourav Ganguly and including playing participation in over 2000 international matches across its members.
Introduction of Stop Clock in Tests
The stop clock has been implemented to eradicate the issue of slow over-rate. As per the rule, the fielding side is supposed to start an over within 60 seconds of the last one ending. Two warnings will be given on failure to do so, and another failure would result in a five-run penalty on the bowling team. The warnings will be reset to zero after each block worth 80 overs. The rule has come into effect during the ongoing 2025-27 WTC cycle.
No mandatory ball change on deliberate usage of saliva
While the saliva ban continues in international cricket since COVID-19, the mandatory ball change by umpires in case of saliva being found on the ball is no longer compulsory. This change is made to prevent teams from changing the balls by deliberately applying saliva to them. 
Going forward, the condition of the ball will help in deciding if the ball is to be changed or not. If it appears too wet or these is more shine. This decision has been completely left to the umpires. If the ball starts doing things after umpires saying that application of saliva has not changed its condition, it would not be replaced. The batting team would, however, be given five penalty runs.
Number of balls per ODI innings
Two new balls will be used for the first 34 overs of an ODI innings, after which the fielding team will choose one of the balls for the remaining overs. Thereafter, the fielding side will select one of the two balls—whichever is in better condition—for use in the final 16 overs. The aim is to allow the ball more time to wear and tear, thereby potentially bringing reverse swing and late-innings bowling variety back into play.
DRS protocol for secondary review after an out decision
Imagine a situation when a batter has been given out caught behind, and he demands a review. The UltraEdge shows the ball brushing the pads without any contact with the bat. With the catch ruled out, the TV umpire checks for second dismissal mode via ball tracking, whether he is lbw or not. So far, the protocol was, once the batter was given ‘not out caught’, the default decision for the second mode of dismissal, lbw, would be not out. This means, if the ball tracking led to an “umpire’s call” verdict, the batter would remain not out. But in now’s updated rule, when the ball tracking is displayed, the original decision label on it would be reading “out” and if the review yields an umpire call, the batter would be ruled out. 
If in case, there is a player review and an umpire review for separate modes of dismissal on the same ball, “the incidents shall be addressed in chronological order”. Earlier, the TV umpire used to assess the umpire reviews before moving on to the review asked for by a player. Now, the revised playing condition reads, “If the conclusion from the first incident is that a batter is dismissed, then the ball would be deemed to have become dead at that point, rendering investigation of the second incident unnecessary”. So now, if there is an appeal for lbw and run out, the TV umpire would first take up the lbw review since it occurred first. In case batter is out, then the ball would be declared dead and review for run out would not be done.
Fairness of catch to be reviewed for no-ball
As per Wisden, the TV umpire will check for the fairness of a catch even after a no-ball from the bowler. Earlier, if no ball was signalled by the third umpire, the fairness of the catch was not checked. But now, it will be. If the catch is fair, the batting team will get one extra run for a no-ball, and if it is unfair, the batting team will get the runs taken by the batters. 
How will the short run rule work?
In case a batter has been caught taking a short run, five runs are shaved off the batting team’s total. Now, as per updated rules, if one of the batters does not make their ground deliberately for the sake of stealing an extra run, the umpires would ask the fielding team to decide which batter they want to be on strike. The five-run penalty will continue. 
“A deliberate short run is an attempt for batters to appear to run more than one run, while at least one batter deliberately does not make good their ground at one end,” Rule 18.5.1 of the playing conditions says. “Batters may choose to abort a run, provided the umpire believes that there was no intention by the batter concerned to deceive the umpires or to score the run in which they did not make their ground,” the rule added.
Further playing conditions to be trialled by Full Members
From October 2025 and for an initial six-month period, there are additional changes.
Replacement players (domestic first-class cricket)
A player who suffers a serious injury on the field of play at any time after the match has started (including any pre-match warm-up period) may be replaced for the remainder of the match by a fully participating like-for-like player.
Wide Ball Trial (ODI and T20I cricket)
In an effort to provide leniency for a bowler who sees the batter moving around prior or during a delivery, a new wide ball rule will be trialled. As part of the changes, 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. Any leg side delivery that passes behind the batter’s legs and outside of the line at the time the ball reaches the popping crease may still be called a Wide. Previously, a wide had been called for a delivery that would not have been called wide if the batter had retained their normal batting position.
Starting dates for new international playing conditions
The new playing conditions has already been commenced with the first match of the new World Test Championship on the June 17, played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh The new playing conditions for ODIs and T20Is will commence during the same Sri Lanka against Bangladesh series, with the first of three ODIs from 2 July, and a three-match T20I series from 10 July. All Test, ODI and T20I matches after these dates will be played under the new playing conditions.
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