The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) have approved the new Code of Laws guidelines after the proposals were put forward to them in December by their World Cricket Committee.

Among the new laws, which officially come into effect on October 1, umpires will be able to show players red cards and remove them from the field of play for the remainder of the match.

Split between four levels of seriousness, the highest band, threatening an umpire or committing any act of violence, will see the player in question sent off and five penalty runs awarded to the opposition.

If he or she is batting at the time of the offence, they will be marked down as retired out.

Umpires will also be allowed to remove players temporarily from games for intimidating match officials or threatening an opponent, coach or spectator.

The laws also see the introduction of new maximum bat sizes, with the dimensions being 108 millimetres in width and 67mm in depth with 40mm edges.

John Stephenson, the MCC’s head of cricket, said the Committee felt it was the right time for the Code to be updated.

"We are very pleased with the outcome, which we believe reflects the continuing evolution of cricket," said the former Essex and Hampshire player, who earned one Test cap for England in 1989.

"We felt the time had come to introduce sanctions for poor player behaviour and research told us that a growing number of umpires at grassroots level were leaving the game because of it.

"Hopefully these sanctions will give them more confidence to handle disciplinary issues efficiently, whilst providing a deterrent to the players.

"The bat size issue has been heavily scrutinised and discussed in recent years.

"We believe the maximum dimensions we have set will help redress the balance between bat and ball, while still allowing the explosive, big hitting we all enjoy."

Other changes include the number of dismissal types going down from 10 to nine as handled the ball will be included in the obstructing the field law.

An alteration has also been made to the running out of a non-striking batsman.

It will allow a run out to be attempted if the batter is out of his ground when the ball comes into play up until the moment when the bowler is expected to release the ball.

Batsmen will also no longer be classed as run out if their bat bounces off the ground as they slide it into the crease if they are diving or continuing forward momentum.

The language used in the code will also be changed so it is neutral to both sexes.