Former England cricket players want new rules to stop player fights. They suggest using yellow and red cards like in football games. David Lloyd, Phil Tufnell, and Michael Vaughan discussed this idea recently. The India-England Test series ended 2-2 with many heated arguments.
Players got angry with each other during several cricket matches. Shubman Gill and Zak Crawley had a big argument on the field. Mohammed Siraj also behaved badly toward Ben Duckett during games. These fights made cricket look bad for young fans watching.
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Problems During Recent Cricket Matches
The cricket experts talked about player behavior on a podcast show. They noticed too many arguments between Indian and English players lately. Current punishment methods like money fines don’t work well for stopping fights.
“Don’t upset the players. I used to be on that committee. I used to be on the elite umpires selection committee. And I said I always was on about yellow cards, red cards. Give them a red card. Get them off,” Lloyd said.
David Lloyd remembered suggesting card systems while working with cricket umpires. He believes stronger punishments will make players behave better during matches.
“They don’t take a blind bit of notice now, the players. So let’s go back to Lord’s, right? So your yellow card, red card. So Mohammed Siraj gets a 15% fine, doesn’t he, for his little barge? He did, he barged Duckett. Duckett, little Duckett barged on him, didn’t he?” The panel debated on this.
Phil Tufnell argued, “So in your system, that’ll be yellow. Just a yellow card. And everybody on the ground and watching on TV and radio knows exactly what’s happened. He’s on notice. If he steps out of line again, he’s off the field.”
How the Card System Would Work
Yellow cards would warn players about their bad behavior for the first time. Red cards would force players to leave the cricket match immediately. This traffic-light system works well in football and other sports already.
“So what about the Shubman–Zak Crawley incident… a bit of argy-bargy, there was a bit of finger pointing. So we’d say yellow, yellow card. Yellow to both.”
“I think you could give him a warning. I’d even go in cricket three: a warning, then a yellow. You can go on a traffic light system—green, amber, red,” Tufnell supported.
Phil Tufnell and Michael Vaughan support this new idea for cricket. They discussed it on their “Stick to Cricket” podcast show recently.
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Fans Want Better Player Behavior
Cricket fans agree that players should behave properly during important matches. The card system idea has received positive feedback from supporters. Many people think this change would improve cricket’s reputation worldwide.
