Cricket to introduce red cards for 'most extreme' on-field behaviour

The rule change will apply to all levels of the game, from international to village green

Billy Bowden jokingly showed a red card to Australia's Glenn McGrath in 2005 (Getty)

A red-card penalty is set to be introduced into the Laws of Cricket for the first time.

The MCC, custodian of the laws, will receive a recommendation from its world cricket committee to give umpires the power to send off a player in the most extreme cases of on-field breaches of discipline.

The move, which will apply to all levels of competition from Test to village green, is expected to come into effect as of next October.

It was announced in a press release issued by the world cricket committee on Wednesday, following its meeting in Mumbai.

Committee chairman Mike Brearley and colleagues including his fellow former Test captain Ricky Ponting made it clear that the introduction of a red-card system for "threatening an umpire, physically assaulting another player, umpire, official or spectator, or any other act of violence on the field of play" is specifically targeted at addressing increasingly poor standards of behaviour in recreational cricket, rather than at the professional level.

It will, however, apply in all international and professional domestic matches.

More to follow...

PA