'Red card, get them off': Former England cricketers react to Shubman Gill incident, call for stricter rules

The recently concluded India–England Test series, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was not short on drama. Heated exchanges between players were a frequent theme, with Shubman Gill, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Mohammed Siraj often at the centre of these confrontations and heated moments.

Amid the spotlight on sledging and clashes, former England stars Phil Tufnell, Sir Alastair Cook, David Lloyd and Michael Vaughan debated an unusual solution during the Stick to Cricket podcast. The former cricketers, and Lloyd in particular, recalled how he wanted to introduce yellow and red cards into Test cricket.


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Lloyd, recalling his time on the elite umpires’ selection committee, said he had long advocated a stricter approach. “Don’t upset the players. I used to be on that committee. I used to be on the elite umpires selection committee. And I said I always was on about yellow cards, red cards. Give them a yellow card. Give them a red card. Get them off.”

However, he admitted there was resistance from administrators. “And they said, ‘No, you’ve got to try and get on the same wavelength over five days or a four-day game, whatever it is, and try to work with the players. Try to work with them.’”

Using recent incidents as examples, the panel highlighted Mohammed Siraj’s fine for barging into Ben Duckett during the Lord’s Test. “They don’t take a blind bit of notice now, the players. So let’s go back to Lord’s, right? So your yellow card, red card. So Mohammed Siraj gets a 15% fine, doesn’t he, for his little barge? He did, he barged Duckett. Duckett, little Duckett barged on him, didn’t he?”

Tufnell argued that under such a system, the punishment would have been more transparent. “So in your system, that’ll be yellow. Just a yellow card. And everybody on the ground and watching on TV and radio knows exactly what’s happened. He’s on notice. If he steps out of line again, he’s off the field.”

The suggestion was extended to the Gill–Crawley face-off during the third evening. “So what about the Shubman–Zak Crawley incident... a bit of argy-bargy, there was a bit of finger pointing. So we’d say yellow, yellow card. Yellow to both.”

For Tufnell, a traffic-light system could work best. “I think you could give him a warning. I’d even go in cricket three: a warning, then a yellow. You can go on a traffic light system—green, amber, red.”

While there have been several bizarre rules that have been suggested by former cricketers, including Kevin Pietersen's call for bigger sixed to fetch 12 runs, the recent call for yellow and red cards seems to have struck a chord with fans, with the warning to yellow to red system in particular standing out from the rest.

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