A red-card penalty is set to be introduced into the laws of cricket for the first time.

The Marylebone Cricket Club, the Lord’s-based custodian of the laws, will receive a recommendation from its world cricket committee to give umpires the power to send off a player in the most extreme cases of on-field breaches of discipline.

The move, which will apply to all levels of competition from Test to village green, is expected to come into effect next October.

It was announced in a press release issued by the world cricket committee on Wednesday, following its meeting in Mumbai.

Committee chairman Mike Brearley and colleagues including his fellow former Test captain Ricky Ponting made it clear the introduction of a red-card system was specifically targeted at addressing increasingly poor standards of behaviour in recreational cricket, rather than at the professional level.

It will, however, apply in all international and professional domestic matches.

– with AAP