
As a result of slow over-rate penalties, as many as 29 points were subtracted from Australia’s and England’s World Test Championship (WTC) point totals. Australia had 10 points taken off of them, while England lost 19 points. In this article, we’ll examine the WTC standings following the imposition of sluggish over-rate penalties.
England suffers after an exciting Ashes
Following one of the greatest Ashes series in history, England suffered far more than their rival due to delayed over-rate penalties. For the first test, England was docked two points. For the second test, they were docked nine points. For the fourth test, they were docked three points. And for the fifth test, they were docked five points. Naturally, England will play more home games where the pitch will favour pacers over spinners. A good over-rate will therefore be challenging for them to maintain.
Australia lucky to receive just a 10-point deduction
Australia is fortunate to just have lost 10 points in the fourth test due to slow overrate. How are they fortunate? They can thank Bazball for it. Due to England’s use of the Bazball style of play, Australia occasionally needed to bowl fewer than 80 overs to complete an England batting inning. Australia bowled 78 overs in the first test before England declared early on Day 1. According to the new regulations governing slow over-rate fines, a team would not be subject to any if they bowled fewer than 80 overs. Australia would have lost two points in that game if the England squad had batted for two more overs. Australia only had to bowl more than 80 overs three times in nine bowling innings.
Usman Khawaja’s reaction
Usman Khawaja voiced his opinions on the fines on Twitter after the ICC issued them.
Don't even get the chance to bowl in the second innings at Manchester due to 2 days of rain and @ICC still issue fines and take 10 WTC points of us for slow over rates! That makes a lot of sense… 🤦🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/NKuGI61n2n
— Usman Khawaja (@Uz_Khawaja) August 2, 2023
Khawaja questioned the reasoning for the penalties for the fourth test in a tweet. Due to rain, Australia only bowled once during the test, which effectively ended nearly two days of play. The bigger query is whether Australia would have gained from the match if the rain had not stopped the game.
In their first innings, Australia scored 317 runs in 90.2 overs, and in response, England scored 592 runs in just 107.4 overs. Australia was 61 runs behind after losing five wickets in the third innings when the rain stopped the game. It is quite doubtful that Australia would have averted a loss if the rain hadn’t intervened, and there would have been a potential that Australia’s over-rate would have been worse if they had been forced to bowl at England again.
Would genuinely be fascinated to hear how Khawaja thinks the Old Trafford Test would have played out had it not rained. Australia score 600, put England back in to bat, bowl 17 overs an hour and skittle them out?
— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) August 2, 2023
WTC standings
Position | Team | PCT (%) | Points | Series | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn |
1 | Pakistan | 100 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2 | India | 66.67 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
3 | Australia | 30 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
4 | West Indies | 16.67 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
5 | England | 15 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
6 | Bangladesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
7 | New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
8 | South Africa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
9 | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
- Australia received a 10-point deduction after the Ashes.
- England received a 19-point deduction after the Ashes.
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