ENG vs IND | England incur fine and WTC points penalty for slow over rate at Lord's
England's tryst with slow over rates continued in the third Test against India at Lord's that concluded on July 14 as the Ben Stokes-led team were docked two points in the World Test Championship, their first penalty of the cycle. The team was also fined 10% of its match fee as a result of the same.
England's famous win at Lord's after managing to defend 193 against India on a thrilling Day 5 to go 2-1 up in the series came at a cost, with the team effectively gaining just 10 World Test Championship points for victory after failing to bowl the required number of overs through the contest. The tournament's playing conditions dictate that a team is liable to lose a point for every over short once time allowances are taken into consideration by the officials. The two-point penalty means England's tally now reads 62 points at 61.11 percent, pushing them below Australia and Sri Lanka to third spot. Notably, the points-penalty has played a decisive role in the past, given the Aussies had slipped to third in the inaugural WTC and missed out on the final after being docked four over-rate points.
None of the 15 days of Test cricket played in the England-India series so far have managed to produce the requisite 90 overs in a day. The most the two sides combined have managed is 86 overs on a couple of occassions, while several days have featured less than 80 overs. The lowest count came on Day 2 of the Lord's Test, when just 72.3 overs were bowled despite no weather interruptions. For contrast, 77 overs were bowled on Day 2 in Headingley despite losing some time to rain. While the general slowness of play is largely to blame, the sub-standard Dukes has also played a part with the constant ball changes and the preceding negotiations with the umpire taking up significant chunks of time on aggregate.
This isn't the first time the Three Lions have incurred such penalties, having also been docked 12 and 22 points in the previous two cycles respectively albeit a mid-table finish in both editions rendered the penalty meaningless. Since Ben Stokes was named captain in 2022, the problem seems to have exacerbated given the veteran's propensity to change the field far more often than his counterparts as well as indulge in elongated discussions with his bowlers during play. The skipper has in the past defended his methods by stating his team was yet to participate in an interruption-free draw, meaning the slow over-rates had no overbearing consequences on the result.
Nevertheless, the International Cricket Council and Marylebone Cricket Club have made repeated efforts to tackle the issue, the latest being the introduction of a stop clock that gives each team 60 seconds to start a new over. After two warnings upon infringement, the umpires hold the right to award the batting team five penalty runs -- a power that is yet to be excercised since the rule came into force at the start of the ongoing WTC cycle. It remains to be seen whether the latest sanctions change the rate of the game when England take on India next at Old Trafford in the fourth Test, beginning July 23.
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