'Ridiculous' scenes as Narine sees cricket's first red card

Kieron Pollard has lashed red cards in cricket as "absolutely ridiculous" after his Trinbago Knight Riders were the first to receive the sanction under new rules introduced in this year's Caribbean Premier League.

CPL organisers introduced a raft of measures for both men's and women's competitions this season in an attempt to curb slow play, including a red card for a fielding side found to be behind schedule at the start of the final over of an innings.

The sanction means a team loses a player selected by the captain and must have six fielders inside the fielding restriction circle.

With the Knight Riders behind the over-rate at the start of the 20th over while bowling to St Kitts & Nevis Patriots on Sunday, skipper Pollard was shown red by umpire Zahid Bassarath and required to send a player from the field.

Pollard selected Sunil Narine, who had completed his quota of four overs with 3-24, with the finger spinner sent from the field for the final over of the Patriots' innings, which yielded 18 runs.

As is customary in the T20 format, teams have 85 minutes to bowl their overs.

New rules in this season's CPL require teams to have completed the 17th over of the innings by 72 minutes and 15 seconds, the 18th by 76 minutes and 30 seconds and the 19th by 80 minutes and 45 seconds.

If a team is behind the rate at the beginning of the 18th over, as the Knight Riders were, they are required to field with five fielders inside the circle instead of four.

If they are still behind the rate at the start of the 19th over, they must have six inside the fielding restriction circle and if they are behind at the beginning of the final over, they must continue with only 10 players and six inside the circle.

The batting team also won't escape sanction for slow play, and after a first and final warning from the umpires, the batting team will be given a five-run penalty for each instance of time wasting.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has also introduced heavy fines for international teams found to be behind the over-rate in all three formats and also docks World Test Championship points, which both Australia and England fell victim to during the recent Ashes series.

Big Bash League officials also introduced penalties for slow over-rates where teams are required to field with an extra player in the circle for last season's KFC BBL and Weber WBBL.

"We have been disappointed that our T20 games have been getting longer and longer each year, and we want to do what we can to arrest this trend," Michael Hall, CPL's Tournament Operations Director, said when introducing the new playing conditions.

"It is the duty of those involved in cricket to ensure that the game keeps. Our hope is that these in-game penalties are not needed, but we believe they are proportionate and necessary."

Pollard did not agree when asked about the penalties post-match.

"To be honest, it will take away the hard work everyone has done throughout the innings," Pollard said on the broadcast.

"We are like the pawns and we are going to do what we are told.

"If that's going to determine matches and that's what they want to see, well we have (to deal with it).

"We are going to play as fast as we can. If you are penalised for 30-45 seconds in a tournament like this, it is absolutely ridiculous."

While Pollard said the penalty cost his team 25-30 runs, the Knight Riders still prevailed by six wickets with 17 balls to spare as Nicholas Pooran's 32-ball 61 helped them chase down the Patriots' 5-178 to record their first win of the season.