Calcutta: Dave Richardson, the ICC chief executive, has tried to explain the balance that cricket needs while delivering 2018 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's.

According to Richardson, who is also a former South Africa wicketkeeper, cricket needs the Mahendra Singh Dhonis and Rahul Dravids as much as the Shane Warnes and the Virat Kohlis.

"On the field, cricket needs its larger than life characters... Colin Milburns, Freddie Flintoffs, Shane Warnes, Virat Kohlis, Ben Stokes... But it equally needs its Frank Worrells, Mahendra Singh Dhonis, Rahul Dravids, Colin Cowdreys to make sure that we all stay in the good side of that line," Richardson said on Monday.

Richardson expressed concerns about the rising cases of cheating and sledging in international cricket.

Richardson also criticised players claiming confusion over ball-tampering rules, saying the laws were clear.

"The phrase 'it's just not cricket' is not an accident, it's because cricket's DNA is based on integrity and people know that cricket represents something more than a game," Richardson said.

"We have seen too much behaviour of late that puts that in jeopardy and it has to stop. Sledging that amounts to no more than personal abuse, fielders giving send-offs to batsmen who have been dismissed, unnecessary physical contact, players threatening not to play in protest against an umpire's decision and ball-tampering. This isn't the version of our sport that we want to project to the world."

Meanwhile, armed with statistical analysis from the ICC that over rates in both Test and T20 cricket have slowed down in the past year, the MCC World Cricket Committee expressed concern over the pace of play across the three formats.

At the same time, the committee, led by Mike Gatting, discussed and floated the idea of a 'shot clock' to keep over rates in check as well as recommended harsher penalties for slow rates.

Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly are also members of the Committee, and they gave their views on a variety of issues facing world cricket.