England won the third Test against India at Lord’s by a huge 22 runs, but their slow over rate put them in trouble.
The England team has been fined and two valuable World Test Championship (WTC) points have also been deducted.
Captain Ben Stokes accepted this decision, but there is a lot of anger among the fans and the opposing team about this.
In Test cricket, it is necessary to bowl 90 overs every day. There should be at least 15 overs in an hour, otherwise there is a provision for punishment.
On the second day of the Lord’s Test, India scored 145-3, but only 72.3 overs were bowled that day. Overall, 15 overs were reduced, which was not considered good for the pace of the game.
Match referee Richie Richardson ruled that England were two overs behind. The result was that the entire team was fined 10% of their match fee and two WTC points were deducted.
Due to these points cut, England slipped from second to third in the WTC standings, and Sri Lanka took their place.
Repeat offenders raise concerns over pace of Test matches
This is not the first time England has received such a punishment. His team has already lost 22 points in the 2023-25 WTC cycle.
Ben Stokes says that this happened due to the long run-up of his fast bowlers, but rules are rules.
The problem of slow over rate in Test cricket is an old one. The rules say that all the overs should be bowled on the fifth day, even if the game is stopped due to weather on the first day.
But if the overs are reduced due to slow speed, then there is no way to compensate for them.
The ICC has made some arrangements for punishment, like giving five penalty runs, but this rule has not been used in Tests yet.
The fourth Test between England and India will start again at Lord’s from July 23. Fans hope that this time England will improve its pace and will not repeat such a mistake.
But the question is, will there be any permanent solution to this slow pace of Test cricket?
