NEWS
Follow UsFollowing a riveting end to the Ashes series, both Australia and England received a huge setback, having been docked World Test Championship (WTC) points for slow over-rate. England were behind in four of the five Tests - two overs at Edgbaston, nine at Lord's, three at Old Trafford, and five in the last Test at The Oval.
As far as Australia are concerned, they were fine in four Tests but were 10 overs short at Old Trafford and, as a result, have been docked 10 points.
As a result, England ended the series with just nine points, while and Australia with 18. As a result, Australia find themselves in third place, having accumulated 30% of the total points on offer, while England drop below West Indies to fifth in the WTC table, having garnered just 15% of the points.
According to the latest ICC rules pertaining to over-rate offences, each team will be fined 5% of their match fee and one WTC point for every over they are found short. Hence, Australia were fined 50% of their over-rate offence in Manchester, but England received fines of 10%, 45%, 15% and 25% for the four Tests they fell short.
"This series has been a bit of an outlier, I think. We haven't had any over-rate sanctions over the last few years until this series. It feels like this one has been played at a different pace. It's something we need to speak about in ODI cricket as well when you're setting fields, the time can run out pretty quickly," Australia captain Pat Cummins had said ahead of the fifth Test at The Oval.
The Ashes concluded on Monday (July 31), with England levelling the series at The Oval after being 2-0 down.
