“Suspended” in cricket means two different things, and they are worth separating before anything else. Play is suspended when the umpires stop the match because conditions have become dangerous or unreasonable. A player is suspended when the ICC bans them for a set number of matches after a Code of Conduct offence.
Neither is a matter of feel. Both are written down, with numbers, and the numbers are public. The stoppage rules are clauses 2.7 and 2.8 of the ICC playing conditions — and they are word for word identical in the Test (June 2025), ODI and T20I (July 2025) editions, so the same test applies whether it is day three at Lord’s or the 14th over of a T20I. The ban rules are Article 7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, effective 16 June 2023.
Play suspended: who decides, and against what test
The call belongs to the umpires. Clause 2.8.2 says the decision is “one for the umpires alone to make, following consultation with the ICC Match Referee” — the referee is consulted, not obeyed, and the captains have no say at all.
They are judging against two separate standards, and the difference between them is the part most viewers miss.
| Standard | What the playing conditions say | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Dangerous | There is actual and foreseeable risk to the safety of any player or umpire | Play is suspended, or not allowed to start |
| Unreasonable | There is no risk to safety, but it would not be sensible for play to proceed | Play is suspended, or not allowed to start |
So a match can be stopped with nobody in any danger at all. What it cannot be stopped for is discomfort: conditions are not to be regarded as dangerous or unreasonable merely because they are not ideal. The regulations then name the example everyone argues about — the fact that the grass and the ball are wet does not, on its own, make a ground unfit for play.
The wet-ground test has three parts, and one is enough
Clause 2.7.4 is where a wet outfield does cross the line. If the umpires consider the ground so wet or slippery that it deprives:
- the bowler of a reasonable foothold,
- the fielders of the power of free movement, or
- the batters of the ability to play their strokes or to run between the wickets,
then the conditions are to be treated as so bad that play would be both dangerous and unreasonable. Any one of the three is sufficient; the umpires do not need all three.
Dew gets its own clause. Where conditions become unreasonable or dangerous, the umpires stop play and instruct the ground authority to remove as much dew from the outfield as they can, and they may send the ground staff out during scheduled and unscheduled breaks too.
Bad light: the meter is a guideline, not a threshold
This is the most misunderstood suspension in the game. The ICC supplies the light meters and they are all uniformly calibrated, but the readings are only ever evidence. The umpires are entitled to use them as a guide to whether the light is fit for play, and as benchmarks for the rest of the match — to judge whether the light has since improved or deteriorated.
There is no published lux figure at which a match stops. The meter is a guideline, not a threshold, and the dangerous-or-unreasonable test in clause 2.8.2 is still what the decision turns on.
Two related rules are worth knowing. The umpires must disregard any shadow on the pitch cast by the stadium or by any permanent object on the ground, however awkward it looks on television. And where natural light is deteriorating to an unfit level, they authorise the ground authority to switch the floodlights on so that play can continue rather than stop.
Once play is suspended, the umpires own the restart as well. They monitor conditions, inspect as often as is appropriate and do so unaccompanied by players or officials — and the moment they agree together that conditions are no longer dangerous or unreasonable, they must call the players back out.
Player suspended: how the Code of Conduct actually works
Every offence under the ICC Code of Conduct is graded from Level 1 to Level 4, and every sanction carries demerit points alongside it. The demerit points are not the punishment; they are the record that builds up.
| Level of offence | Range of permissible sanctions | Demerit points |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | A warning and/or a fine of up to 50% of the match fee | 1 or 2 |
| Level 2 | A fine of between 50% and 100% of the match fee, or up to two suspension points | 3 or 4 |
| Level 3 | Between four and twelve suspension points | 5 or 6 |
| Level 4 | Twelve suspension points, or a fixed ban ranging from the lesser of twelve points and one year, up to a lifetime | 7 or 8 |
Within each level the higher figure goes with the heavier sanction: a Level 1 warning or a fine up to 25% earns one demerit point, a 26-50% fine earns two, and so on up the table.
A ban can therefore reach a player by two different routes. It can be imposed directly, as the sanction for a Level 2, 3 or 4 offence. Or it can arrive later, through accumulation — and that second route is the one that catches players out.
Four demerit points is the number to remember
Demerit points from separate offences are added together, and once the total crosses four they convert into suspension points automatically, at the moment the threshold is first crossed.
| Accumulated demerit points | Suspension points |
|---|---|
| 4-7 | 2 |
| 8-11 | 4 |
| 12-15 | 6 |
| 16 and above | 8 |
Suspension points are then converted into actual matches by format, and the longer the format the more a single match is worth: a Test, or any international of at least four days, is worth 2 suspension points; an ODI or a T20I is worth 1. Any other international also counts as one.
Four demerit points inside two years means two suspension points, which is one Test or two white-ball internationals. That is the ICC’s own worked example, not an inference — and it is why a player on three demerit points is one minor offence away from missing a match.
The window is not a calendar year. A demerit point stays on a player’s disciplinary record for 24 months from the date it was imposed, and is then expunged. A suspension served through accumulation does not clear the points early; they sit there for the full two years.
One more detail that decides arguments. A ban from accumulated demerit points is served in addition to whatever the match referee handed down, not instead of it — but the two run concurrently, so the player is not banned twice over for the same week.
Suspended in cricket: quick answers
Who decides to suspend play? The umpires together, after consulting the ICC Match Referee. Nobody else can overrule them.
Does rain automatically suspend a match? No. Wet grass and a wet ball alone do not make a ground unfit — the umpires apply the foothold, free-movement and stroke-playing test.
Is there a light reading at which play must stop? No. The light meter is a guide and a benchmark, and the umpires decide.
How many demerit points before a ban? Four, accumulated within 24 months, which converts to two suspension points.
How long is a two-point suspension? One Test, or two ODIs or T20Is.
Do demerit points ever disappear? Yes, 24 months after they were imposed.
More on how the rules work: Test cricket rules explained, how many overs there are in Test cricket, and what a par score means when rain does cut a match short.
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