England and Australia have been hit with significantly different World Test Championship penalties for slow over rates following the 2023 Ashes, with a combination of England’s bold ‘Bazball’ approach with the bat and some canny lobbying by Usman Khawaja largely behind the discrepancy.
England have been docked 19 WTC points following the series – an unprecedented penalty, equal to the points deducted from all teams in the 2021-23 cycle combined. Australia have been hit with a 10-point deduction, and were only penalised for their over rate in one game, at Old Trafford. This came as a surprise to some, considering their perceived delaying tactics at certain points in the series.
Two key things are at play. The first is a rule change, lobbied for by Khawaja, that has raised the threshold after which teams are penalised for maintaining a poor over rate. Previously teams were punished only in bowling innings longer than 60 overs, and in games where they bowled more than 120 overs, if they bowled twice in the game. Those thresholds have since been raised to 80 and 160 respectively, with Khawaja using his relationship with ICC general manager Wasim Khan to help effect that change.
“I was pretty frustrated with what was happening,” Khawaja said. “I just thought someone has to find a way to speak to the ICC about it. We had played three games and they’d been three really good games with results, [providing] entertainment and we were getting fined 80 per cent of our match fee. It’s a lot of money.
“[It’s] just really frustrating as a player, you are giving it your all out there, providing entertainment, then you are getting stung for it.”
“Wasim was really good. We talked, he took the feedback. To his credit, it wasn’t just listening and no action. Actions happened within one or two weeks. We are trying to go as fast as we can. It’s the conditions that make it hard for us. If you are in India, we are never behind the over-rate [with] two spinners going at it.
“We were getting results, that’s what was frustrating. [I] Think England were frustrated with it, too. I appreciate the ICC actually listening to players. It’s the first time I have had that with the ICC. Think it’s a really good step forward.”
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How has this affected this series? Significantly. While England and Australia have been closely matched in terms of runs scored and wickets taken, with fewer than 50 runs or three wickets separating them in each of the four results, a major point of difference is the scoring rates of the two teams: England scored at 4.74 runs per over across the series, compared to Australia’s 3.35.
While England will credit this with helping secure a victory in the dying stages at the Kia Oval, as well as being responsible for a late result being possible at Edgbaston, it has also let Australia off the hook. In three of the four Tests in which Australia bowled twice, they bowled between 120 and 160 overs in the game, meaning that, under the old rule, they may have copped a penalty for their over rates in these games, but under the new rule, they were exempt.
England, meanwhile, bowled 160 overs in four of the five Tests, and received penalties in each of them. Of particular frustration will be the fine margins at Lord’s and Old Trafford. At the latter, England bowled 161.2 overs in the game, eight balls past the cut-off. Meanwhile, at Lord’s, England faced 157.5 overs across both innings, with Australia avoiding a possible penalty by 13 balls.
All that means England take just nine points from the 2-2 draw, down from a possible 28 without penalties. Australia have ended with 18 points.
