MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday announced new rules for media coverage that will bar television interviews of batsmen as they leave for dressing room after being dismissed.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said that there would be set limits on Channel Nine's coverage, prohibiting questions of aggrieved batsmen.
"You're not going to see people talking to them straight after they have got out, that wouldn't be appropriate," Sutherland said.
His comments come in the wake of an incident involving star spinner Shane Warne who was thrust a microphone by a female Perth television reporter in a Pura Cup game.
The reporter questioned Warne about his marriage as he returned to the WACA dressing room after being dismissed.
The new rule comes as a setback to Channel Nine which had been hoping to cash in on the huge interest in Australia's fight to regain the Ashes with increased coverage, including on-field questioning of players.
Nine has broken from tradition and recruited Stephanie Brantz from SBS to be the commentary team's on-field interviewer.
Brantz had said that her role will be to talk to the cricketers as they step past the boundary rope on and off the field during the five-Test series, which starts on November 23 in Brisbane.
"There might be some bats flying around if someone has just got a duck," she said.
Australia's 25 contracted players discussed Nine's desire for an up-close-and-personal coverage during August's controversial boot camp in Queensland.
Sutherland and the players' union said that the players were open to helping provide a better viewing coverage but it couldn't come at a cost to their roles in the game.
"The players are more than happy to encourage the coverage as long as their boundaries are respected," a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.
