Cricket News: Poor attention to detail cost Australia a shot at a $2 million windfall in the World Test Championship

Prizemoney for this week’s World Test Championship has been revealed and left Australia’s Test players kicking themselves for two lazy overs last December.

Tim Paine and the Aussies bowled too slow last Boxing Day (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP) /

Two overs has cost Cricket Australia up to $1.5 million.

The International Cricket Council has confirmed the winner’s of this week’s Test Championship final, being played between New Zealand and India, will receive just over $2 million in prize money.

Even the runners up of the match, set to be played in Southampton, will earn just over $1 million.

In the event of a draw, the two teams will split the $3 million prize pool.

Australia finished third on the Test Championship table, after losing to India at home last summer and when the cancelled three-Test tour of South Africa robbed captain Tim Paine and his men the chance to jump higher.

But it was the four WTC points the Aussies were docked by the ICC, for falling two overs short of the target overrate in the Boxing Day Test, which really bit Paine’s side.

Without that four-point penalty, imposed by Australian great David Boon as the ICC match referee, the Aussies, not the Black Caps, would be taking on India in England this week, and vying for the $2 million reward.

The Aussie players were hit even further in the hip pocket after that eight-wicket loss at the MCG last December, each fined 40 per cent of their match fee because of the slow over rate.

After a triumphant #ENGvNZ series the @BLACKCAPS aren’t taking anything for granted going into the #WTC21 final against @BCCI.https://t.co/Zsyd29Wxvj

— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2021

Test match playing conditions state that the third umpire shall advise the fielding team of their over rate “every 30 minutes as a minimum”, while the rate is also displayed on the big screen during the game.

Despite that, Australia’s players claimed to be unaware they were behind until after the game.

In the aftermath, Australian coach Justin Langer conceded it was “slack” of his team.

“It wasn‘t until after the game that we realised our over rate was down. Now, that’s really slack on our behalf,” Langer said.

“I remember we were in the team room afterwards and I spoke to Painey (skipper Tim Paine) and Dene Hills, our analyst, about it. I was a bit grumpy about it and I thought ‘imagine if this cost us the World Test Championship’.

“And I mentioned it to the players afterwards that two overs down could cost us the World Test Championship.”

That’s exactly what happened, and the Aussies are $1.5 million worse off because of it.