"It would annoy the players and umpires as well"- Mark Butcher comes up with smart idea to avoid slow over rate in Test cricket

Former England cricketer Mark Butcher opined that the breaks between sessions in Tests should be reduced if the teams aren't able to maintain a healthy over rate. There has been a lot of talk about slow over rate in Tests of late, with the fourth Ashes Test in Manchester seeing almost an entire session of play lost due to lack of urgency with the ball.

Butcher reckons if the teams are forced to complete 30 overs per session, it would affect the length of their breaks and they would automatically want to get the required quota of overs in.

Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, here's what Mark Butcher had to say about the slow over rate:

“I simply wouldn’t allow the players to go off for lunch or tea until the 30 overs were done in session which would do two things. It would annoy the players and it would annoy the umpires as well, because their breaks get diminished. It would force teams into doing something about the speed they bowl their overs and the type of teams that they pick."

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Can't have an open-ended finish on a day: Mark Butcher

After rain played spoilsport in Manchester, there has been a lot of talk about whether there should be any end time until the required overs are bowled. Former captain Joe Root also spoke about the possibility of getting the overs in until its as late as 10 PM local time.

However, Mark Butcher feels it is the players who should be held responsible for not completing the overs in the stipulated time and hence should be penalized with truncated breaks. He stated:

“I don’t think you can have an open-ended finish on a day, I think you need to know at some point there is going to be an end. But I would start taking the time out of the 11, 13 the 15 blokes on the field, you make them responsible for the amount of time off in a day they get and I bet you it would make a difference.”

Had a healthy over rate been maintained in Manchester, England possibly could have had enough time to bowl Australia out and square the series despite rain on the final two days.