England have had two World Test Championship points docked – plus a 10% hit to the players’ match fees – for bowling their overs too slowly during the tense 22-run win over India at Lord’s. The deduction nudges Ben Stokes’ side from 24 points down to 22 and drops their percentage from 66.67 to 61.11, enough to tip them from second to third on the fledgling WTC table. Australia now sit alone in second, Sri Lanka cling to top spot.
Under Article 16.11.2 of the WTC playing conditions “a side is penalised one point for each over short after time allowances are taken into consideration”. Match referee Ranjan Madugalle applied the letter of that law once allowances – field changes, injuries, the odd drinks break – were crunched. England finished two overs shy.
Stokes admitted the breach immediately. With that plea of guilt on record, no formal hearing was required and the sanctions were confirmed by the ICC in a short release. “Stokes pleaded guilty and accepted the proposed sanction,” the note read – dry wording that nonetheless costs England ground in a cycle where every point can bite.
The Lord’s Test itself hardly lacked urgency elsewhere. Both teams rattled up identical first-innings totals of 387, setting up a bare-knuckle fourth-innings chase that went deep into the final session. Joe Root’s classical 122 and KL Rahul’s equally flowing 119 framed the contest; Jofra Archer’s 95mph burst and Jasprit Bumrah’s five-for added the spice.
Once India were set 193 to win, Ravindra Jadeja kept the visitors afloat with resourceful stands alongside Nitish Kumar Reddy, Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. With nine wickets down and 23 required, Siraj tried to slog Shoaib Bashir – bowling with a fractured finger – into the Tavern. The edge flew to slip, Lord’s erupted, and England squeaked home 2-1 up in the five-match series.
The victory came at a cost, though. Bashir’s broken digit rules him out of the remainder of the campaign; Hampshire’s Liam Dawson has been drafted in for the fourth Test at Old Trafford, starting 23 July. Dawson, an all-rounder who last played Test cricket in 2017, offers handy left-arm spin and lower-order ballast – but nobody in the England camp is pretending he’s a like-for-like replacement for the tall off-spinner.
Slow over-rates have become a stubborn theme under Stokes and Brendon McCullum. The pair prize attacking fields and quick declarations, yet the clock keeps catching them out. With the WTC table already concertina-tight, England will know that two overs here and two points there could loom large come 2027.
