New Delhi: The International Cricket Council imposed a three-points penalty on New Zealand and England on Tuesday for maintaining slow over-rates in the first Test at Christchurch.
Both teams were fined 15 per cent of their match fees and penalised three crucial World Test Championship points, as a result New Zealand dropped from a spot from joint fourth to fifth on the standings.
India are on top of the standings with 61.11 percentage points while New Zealand now have 47.92 percentage points and are scheduled to host two more matches against England.
South Africa (59.26), Australia (57.26) and Sri Lanka (50) occupy the second, third and fourth spots respectively.
“The race to feature at next year’s ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord’s has taken a twist with New Zealand and England sanctioned for maintaining a slow over-rate during the opening Test of their series in Christchurch,” the ICC said in a statement.
“Both teams were fined 15 per cent of their match fees and penalised three crucial World Test Championship competition points, adding more intrigue to the thrilling final stages of the ongoing cycle.”
Big blow for the Kiwis
The punishment is a major setback for New Zealand, who had defeated India to win the inaugural WT. They now need to beat England in the remaining two matches of their series and hope for other results to go their way in order to play in the final that will be held at Lord’s in June 2025.
The Black Caps and England were guilty of falling short by three overs even after taking time allowances into consideration, with one point docked for each over they were found to be short.
NZ skipper Tom Latham and his English counterpart Ben Stokes accepted the proposed sanctions and as they pleased guilty no formal hearing was done.
On-field umpires of the match Ahsan Raza and Rod Tucker, third umpire Adrian Holdstock and fourth official Kim Cotton brought up the charges after which match referee David Boon imposed the sanctions.
New Zealand and England were fined 15 per cent of their match fees and penalised three crucial World Test Championship points by the ICC for maintaining slow over-rate in the first Test Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
