England has once again found itself in the spotlight for slow over rates in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle. No other team has faced more points deductions for over-rate violations across the three editions of the WTC than England. While they managed to go unpunished in the inaugural 2019-21 cycle, the English side lost 12 points in the 2021-23 cycle and have already lost 22 points in the current cycle.
Ben Stokes Frustrated Over Over-Rate Penalty After Lord’s Test
England became the first team in the 2023-25 WTC to be docked points for slow over rate when they were penalized two points after their win against India at Lord’s. The deduction came despite a dominant performance, leaving England skipper Ben Stokes visibly frustrated. In protest, Stokes refused to sign the match’s over-rate sheet, mirroring a similar stance he took during the Ashes 2023 series at home.
Stokes voiced strong concerns about the one-size-fits-all over-rate regulations implemented by the ICC. He argued that expecting teams to maintain the same over rate across different continents fails to account for the varying bowling conditions.
“You can’t have the same rules in Asia, where spin is bowling 70 per cent of the overs, to have the same laws in New Zealand, Australia, England, where it’s going to be 70 or 80 per cent of seam bowling, because the spinner’s over takes less time than a seamer’s over,” Stokes told Sportstar.
Injury and Conditions Blamed for Slow Over Rate
Stokes also pointed out specific challenges England faced during the Lord’s Test that impacted their over rate. Notably, they were without key spinner Shoaib Bashir, who was injured. That meant England had to rely heavily on pace throughout the match, especially on the final day.
“We played five days. That was our 15th day of cricket. We obviously had an injury to Bash, a spinner, so we couldn’t turn to our spinner as much as we would have liked to on day five,” Stokes explained. “So, we had to throw a seam at them for pretty much the whole day. That’s obviously going to slow things down.”
Looking ahead, England will play the fourth Test in Manchester with Liam Dawson as their lone spinner. With every point becoming crucial in the race to qualify for the WTC Final at Lord’s in 2027, the team will be keen to avoid further penalties for slow over rates.
England’s struggles underscore a growing need to revisit how over rates are regulated, especially in pace-dominant conditions. As Stokes emphasized, perhaps it’s time for the ICC to inject some common sense into how over-rate policies are enforced across different regions.
