The England Cricket Board (ECB) has banned cricketers from wearing smartwatches in all upcoming games, tightening its anti-corruption rules in accordance to the live streaming of county cricket.
The governing body had earlier allowed players to wear smartwatches on the field of play, provided that communication or data transmission facilities would be switched off in televised games. with the vast majority of fixtures now available to watch live worldwide thanks to the growth of live-streaming services in the county game, the regulations have “The board been tightened, meaning that smartwatches are completely banned in televised games and are permitted in the players’ and match officials’ areas (dressing rooms, balconies, dugouts) only in non-televised games,” a report in ESPNcricinfo said.
It was Lancashire spinner Matt Parkinson who brought to light the opportunity for information exchange when he had revealed that he came to know about his maiden England call-up via a notification on his teammate Steven Croft’s smartwatch during the 2019 County Championship. Now with the rise of live streaming of matches, the governing body has decided to tighten its regulations.
“We review the anti-corruption codes and PMOA minimum standards on a yearly basis so that they remain relevant to the current threats and risks to cricket,” an ECB spokesperson said.
Smartwatches have been banned for several years at international cricket. Anti-corruption officials have ordered AsadShafiq and Hasan Ali in 2018 to avoid wearing them during a Lord’s Test.