The ECB will consider changes to its player replacement trial during the first break in the County Championship, as
Lancashire added their voices to those lamenting the application of the new regulations on the opening day of the third round.
Lancashire seamer
Ajeet Singh Dale became the ninth player replaced through injury after he suffered a hamstring problem on
day one against Gloucestershire. However, ECB match referee Peter Such objected to
Tom Bailey as a replacement, citing that he was not like-for-like. With Mitchell Stanley in the squad but unavailable with a back spasm, Lancashire were eventually able to bring in
Ollie Sutton – an allrounder who bowls left-arm seam – to replace Singh Dale, a right-arm quick.
Sutton spent three hours in a taxi to Bristol from Leicestershire, where he was playing for the 2nd XI, and will only come into the match on day two. It meant Bailey spent most of day one on the field as a substitute fielder.
“We’ve seen across the country, it’s not been an easy process,” Lancashire head coach,
Steven Croft, said referencing the growing discontent.
“I don’t think it’s ever going to be perfect when it’s not been laid out. Yes, it’s a bit of a pilot, but I think the whole reason for bringing this regulation in was for that sort of scenario today.
“It was Ajeet’s second over of the game. Obviously there was nothing sinister going on. We’re not bringing a fresh pair of legs in on day four.
“It’s not someone coming in bowling 10mph quicker… so we asked for Bails, which got denied. We had to then turn to a left-arm seaming allrounder, which did get granted to replace Ajeet. It doesn’t fit right and sit well with us, really, from the point of view he’s a different skillset… we had a literal like-for-like in Tom Bailey who is a right-arm seam bowler who opens the bowling.”
Complaints around the new regulations will be taken on board when the Professional Game Committee – chaired by Mark McCafferty – get together to determine what tweaks should be made. Glamorgan captain, Kiran Carlson,
said earlier week that the rule “needs to be ironed out” after Nottinghamshire were able to call upon a fresh seamer in allrounder Lyndon James to replace the injured Fergus O’Neil on the fourth morning. James duly struck twice as Notts sealed victory.
The County Championship takes a break in the middle of May for the T20 Blast. Using that gap to make amendments would be the fairest and earliest given each of the 18 counties would have played six matches and had their bye week. It is highly unlikely the ruling will be abandoned.
Upon the announcement of the replacement trial ahead of the season, ECB head of cricket operations Alan Fordham
urged teams not “to start pushing right at the edges of the regulation”. While there have been some contentious substitutions, such as James for O’Neill, the refusal of Bailey to replace Singh Dale highlights another issue – a match referee’s definition of what constitutes “like-for-like”.
“It was a little bit on stats, and seemed a little bit on experience,” Croft said of Such’s refusal to allow Bailey into the match. “Nothing like that was stipulated when these regulations came out. Obviously, there’s going to be grey areas in it. But if Tom bowled that first ball, I don’t think anyone on the whole would have batted an eyelid. We weren’t trying pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.
“If it was that much of an advantage, we would have started with him.”
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