Former England captain Michael Vaughan has publicly slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for penalising the Three Lions for slow over rates during the recently concluded third Test between England and India at Lord’s. Taking to social media, Vaughan vented his ire and pointed out that India got away with it, deeming the decision as farcical, while highlighting that both teams were equally guilty of poor over rates.
“Let’s be honest, both teams' over rates at Lord’s were very, very poor. How only 1 team has been reprimanded is beyond me,” Vaughan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), triggering widespread debate among fans and cricket experts alike.
Match referee Richie Richardson imposed the sanction after England were ruled to be two overs short of the target when time allowances were taken into consideration. India are fourth in the WTC points table right now.
"In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined five per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time," the ICC said in statement.
"In addition, as per Article 16.11.2 of the ICC World Test Championship playing conditions, a side is penalised one point for each over short. Consequently, two World Test Championship points have been deducted from England's points total," it added.
England's tally in the World Test Championship standings dropped from 24 to 22 out of 36 points, consequently reducing their point percentage (PCT) from 66.67 per cent to 61.11 per cent.
As a result, Sri Lanka, who have a 66.67 PCT, have taken over England to be second.
Australia leads the WTC table with a 100 percentage point having won all three of their games so far, while India have 33.33 PCT
England captain Ben Stokes pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
On-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, third umpire Ahsan Raza and fourth umpire Graham Lloyd levelled the charge.
(With PTI Inputs)
