Cricketers Asked Not To Wear Smart Watches While Playing Matches

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.

Earlier, the governing body had allowed players to wear smartwatches on the field of play, providing that facilities for contact or data transmission would be turned off in televised games.

“But with the vast majority of fixtures now available for worldwide viewing due to the proliferation of live streaming platforms in county games, the rules have been tightened, ensuring that smartwatches are absolutely prohibited in television games and are permitted only in non-televised games in the players ‘and match officials’ areas (dressing rooms, balconies, dugouts),” according to a report.

Lancashire spinner Matt Parkinson had brought to light the need for information sharing when he announced that during the County Championship 2019 he came to learn about his maiden England call-up via a notification on the smartwatch of his team-mate Steven Croft.

The anti-corruption codes of the ECB are even more stringent for televised sports, but the governing body decided to tighten its rules with the rise of live streaming matches.

The ECB hoped the decision would ensure that players ‘honesty’ is not called into question.

“We review regularly the anti-corruption codes and minimum PMOA requirements so that they remain applicable to the latest challenges and risks to cricket,” said a spokesperson for the ECB.

Smartwatches have been banned for several years at international cricket. Anti-corruption officials have ordered Asad Shafiq and Hasan Ali in 2018 to avoid wearing them during a Lord’s Test.

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