Australia and England fined for slow over rates during Ashes

One Aussie Ashes star has lashed out after his team was fined despite rain washing out the fourth Test in England.

Slow over rate penalties cost Australia a place in the 2022 World Test Championship final and the Aussies have been now docked 10 points and fined, with England copping even harsher penalties for breaches during the Ashes.

The moves from the International Cricket Council left Australian opener Usman Khawaja, who has been outspoken about players being fined, furious.

England were deemed even greater offenders during the five-match series, docked a mammoth 19 points by the ICC, complicating the path for both teams to get to the 2024 WTC final.

While the Australians were deducted half of their match fee for offences in the fourth Test at Manchester, the home team were pinged for offences in four of the five matches that were dominated by fast bowlers.

England’s match fees were docked 10 per cent for the first Test, 45 per cent for the second, 15 per cent for the fourth and 25 per cent for the fifth.

The penalties have left Australia, who won the WTC final against India in July, in third place on the table and England fifth, below the West Indies.

Khawaja vented his frustration on social media, questioning how the Australians could be fined having only bowled once in Manchester, a match that ended with two days of rain.

Don't even get the chance to bowl in the second innings at Manchester due to 2 days of rain and @ICC still issue fines and take 10 WTC points of us for slow over rates! That makes a lot of sense... 🤦🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/NKuGI61n2n

— Usman Khawaja (@Uz_Khawaja) August 2, 2023

“Don’t even get the chance to bowl in the second innings at Manchester ... and ICC still fines us and takes 10 WTC points ... that makes sense,” Khawaja posted on Twitter.

During the series, Khawaja revealed he had approached the ICC about reducing penalties for slow over rates in Tests after it decided to soften sanctions.

Khawaja said it was “really frustrating” for players to lose their match fees despite delivering entertaining matches.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said the onus should be on the match officials to keep up the pace of play.

“I think the umpires need to start just getting the players around more,” he said on the ICC Review.

“Getting them ready, getting them organised, making sure the batter’s ready to face up, making sure the bowler is at the end of his mark when the batsman gets back to his crease. “We’ve got to find a way not to be losing so much time in these games.”

The fourth Test at Manchester was a washout. Picture: Oli Scarff / AFP

But Australian captain Pat Cummins said this series was an “outlier” and most matches were played at a quicker pace.

“It feels like there‘s different plans every second over, or every over, every couple of balls,” he said at The Oval.

“One batter might have a totally different plan to another one, so there’s lots of field movement. (There is) a lot more fast-bowling overs than there ever has been.

“This series is maybe that little bit higher pressure, and it’s not only the fielding side but you see the batters taking that little bit of extra time.”