England cricket team suffered a major jolt in their quest towards qualifying for the World Test Championship final after been docked of two points. The Ben Stoked led team were peanlised for slow overrate during the Lord's Test which they won by 22 runs against India.
Ben Stokes and Co. were also fined 10 per cent of their match fee after the Test with match referee Richie Richardson imposing the sanction after England were ruled to be two overs short of the target when time allowances were taken into consideration.
The charges were filed by on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, with support from third umpire Ahsan Raza and fourth umpire Graham Lloyd.
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.
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.
What does the points deduction mean for England?
As a result of the point deduction, England dropped from second to third in the WTC table, with Sri Lanka climbing to second. India are still in fourth with just one win from three Tests. They lost the Lord’s Test by 22 runs.
England’s tally in the WTC standings dropped from 24 to 22 out of 36 points, reducing their point percentage from 66.67% to 61.11%.
As a result, Sri Lanka, who have a 66.67%, have taken over England to be second. Australia lead the World Test Championship table with a 100 percentage point,s having won all three of their matches till now.
Whats next for England cricket team?
The fourth Test starts on 23 July in Manchester, with both teams battling not only for series success but also for every WTC point.
