Why Watches and Mobile Phones Are Banned in Cricket Matches — ICC Rules Explained
So here is a question that came to my mind during the Pakistan versus England Test at Lord's back in 2018. Pakistani players walked onto the field and a few of them were wearing what looked like Apple Watches. Within hours, an ICC anti-corruption officer had walked into the Pakistan dressing room and told them, very firmly: take those off. Right now. Never again.
And that moment got me thinking why exactly is a watch such a big deal? Why does the ICC care so much about a piece of wrist wear? The answer, once you understand it, is actually fascinating. And a little bit dark. Grab your tea and let me walk you through everything.
Why are phones and watches banned in cricket? The one-line answer
Because of match-fixing and spot-fixing. That is it. That is the whole reason. A player with a connected watch or a hidden phone on the field can receive a message from a bookie or a fixer in real time telling him exactly what to do on the very next ball. A signal, a number, a code word anything. And that tiny piece of communication can be worth millions to someone betting illegally.
The one sentence that explains the whole ban
The scandal that changed cricket forever — and forced the ICC to act
To understand why these rules exist, you have to go back to one single moment. April 2000. Delhi Police were conducting routine surveillance when they intercepted a phone call. On one end of that call was Hansie Cronje the captain of South Africa, one of the most respected players in world cricket at that time. On the other end was a bookmaker.
Cronje had been taking money to fix matches and provide information to bookmakers. He confessed. He named other players. He was banned for life. He died two years later in a plane crash, still carrying that shadow. And cricket was never the same again.
The scandals that made the ICC act — real cases, real bans
Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt (2010) — Pakistan players banned and jailed after deliberately bowling no-balls at pre-arranged moments during a Test against England at Lord's arranged by a fixer who sold the information to a newspaper. Mobile phone communication was central to the operation.
Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan (2013) — Rajasthan Royals players arrested during the IPL for spot-fixing. They were in contact with bookmakers during matches. Sreesanth received a life ban. The case proved that even a single over in a T20 match was worth millions to organised betting syndicates.
Shane Warne and Mark Waugh (1994) — Australian legends caught accepting money from a bookmaker to share pitch and weather information. While not directly fixing results, it showed how even "small" information shared from inside a team environment can be worth enormous amounts to illegal betting markets.
These cases especially the Lord's no-ball scandal of 2010, where communication with the fixer happened entirely over mobile phones made one thing crystal clear to the ICC. As long as players had communication devices available to them during a match, the door to corruption would always be open. The only solution was to shut that door completely.
What is the ICC ACU and why was it created?
The ICC Anti-Corruption Unit now called the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, or ACSU — was created in the year 2000, directly as a response to the Hansie Cronje scandal. The ICC appointed Sir Paul Condon, the retired Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, to lead it. Sir Paul Condon later stated publicly that match-fixing had been prevalent in cricket since the 1980s. Two full decades of corruption, mostly hidden, mostly covered up.
The ACSU is not just a rulebook. It is an active investigation and intelligence unit, made up of former law enforcement professionals from India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, and England. They are physically present at every international match. They sit in dressing rooms. They monitor access points. They run education sessions for every player before every tournament. And on match days, they take your phone.
What is the PMOA and why are the rules so strict inside it?
PMOA stands for Player and Match Officials Area. Think of it as a secured zone inside every cricket stadium. It includes the dressing rooms, the dugouts, the dining areas, the warm-up areas, the match officials' rooms, and any other area the Anti-Corruption Manager decides to include at a specific venue. This zone is treated like a controlled environment similar to how a courtroom or a police evidence room works. Nothing goes in or out without being checked.
The PMOA rules have been in force since the early 2000s, but they were formally tightened and published as official ICC Minimum Standards in December 2018 the same year the Lord's smartwatch incident happened. As of June 2024, the PMOA standards are now part of a single global Anti-Corruption Code that covers every match at every level of cricket worldwide, including domestic leagues.
The day Pakistan players wore Apple Watches to a Test match — and got caught
On May 24, 2018, during the first day of the first Test match between England and Pakistan at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, cameras noticed that several Pakistan players appeared to be wearing Apple Watches. The ICC anti-corruption officer who was present at the ground walked straight into the Pakistan dressing room at the end of the day's play.
Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali confirmed it publicly: "I didn't know who was wearing them but yes, the ICC anti-corruption officer came to speak to us and they told us this is not allowed. Next time nobody will wear them." The ICC released an official statement within 24 hours, confirming the ban and reminding every team in world cricket of the rules. The statement specifically said that smart watches "must be surrendered along with their mobile devices on arrival at the ground on match days."
How does corruption actually work through a phone or a watch?
Here is the part that most fans never think about. You might wonder how much information can you really pass through a watch? How does a bookie benefit from a player having a smartwatch on the field?
The answer is: enormously. In modern cricket betting, there is something called in-play betting or live betting. The odds on specific events will this next ball be a wide, will this batsman score a boundary in the next over, will the next delivery be a no-ball change in real time, second by second. The market is worth billions. And the people running these illegal markets are very sophisticated.
Here is how spot-fixing with a device works in practice. The fixer contacts the player before the match and agrees on a specific signal. "In the third over of your spell, bowl a no-ball on the second delivery." That is it. The fixer then goes to an illegal betting platform and places massive bets on a no-ball at that exact moment. The player gets the signal on his watch a simple vibration, a coded message and delivers the pre-agreed ball. The fixer makes millions. The player gets paid a fraction. And nobody watching the match sees anything suspicious, because a no-ball can happen naturally.
Real and documented examples of device-linked corruption
The most searched questions — answered simply and fully
So what does all of this mean for the future of cricket?
The watch and phone ban is not going away. If anything, it is getting stricter. As wearable technology becomes smaller, smarter, and harder to detect, the ICC's challenge only grows. A smartwatch today is the size of a coin. Tomorrow it might be hidden in a player's gear, invisible to the naked eye. The ICC knows this which is why the Anti-Corruption Code was updated globally in June 2024, bringing every match worldwide under the same rules.
The ICC ACU also now has the right to scan devices, conduct forensic audits, and demand full cooperation from players even after they retire. Under the 2024 Code, players remain bound by their obligations for two years after they last participated in any form of official cricket. You cannot just retire and then suddenly help a fixer. The jurisdiction follows you.
For fans, the important thing to understand is this: these rules are not bureaucratic nonsense. Every single one of them was written in response to a real scandal, a real player who was corrupted, a real match that was fixed. The Cronje confession. The Lord's no-ball operation. The IPL spot-fixing arrests. These are the events that shaped every rule you see today. The watch ban is not about technology. It is about the trust that fans place in cricket every single time they sit down to watch a match the belief that what they are watching is real. The ICC is doing everything it can to protect that belief.
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