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The International Cricket Council (ICC) recently announced changes to the over-rate rule. As per the modified laws, players will be subjected to a fine equivalent to five percent of their match fee for every over that they fall short, with a maximum penalty capped at 50 percent. Earlier the upper limit was the entire match fee.
Another significant modification is that if a team gets bowled out before the 80-over mark and the new ball is not yet due, no over-rate penalty will be imposed. The earlier mark was set at 60 overs.
Sourav Ganguly, the chair of the Men's Cricket Committee, said about the changes:
"The Men's Cricket Committee felt strongly that over-rate penalties in the form of WTC points deductions should remain but recommended that players should not have 100% of their match fee at risk. We believe this provides a balance between maintaining over-rates and ensuring we are not deterring players from playing Test cricket."
However, is the decision to apply the new over-rate rules with retrospective effect to the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle (2023-2025) fair?
The new WTC cycle kicked off with Ashes 2023. Players from both England and Australia were fined 40 percent of their match fee at Edgbaston and docked two WTC points apiece, as per the old rule. But that is now likely to change.
Further, Australia could benefit from the new over-rate laws as they bowled out England within 80 overs in their second innings at Edgbaston.
Speaking of Lord's, the over-rates were down again, which could have resulted in significant loss of match fees and important points as well. But that is likely to reduce now as the fines would be announced as per the new rules.
While overall, the move is a good one for cricket and the players in particular, the timing of the implementation might be considered slightly unfair. Only two teams, England and Australia look likely to benefit due to the retrospective implementation.
Meanwhile, India and West Indies only recently began their WTC cycle with the first Test in Dominica, while the first Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test in Galle began three days after ICC’s announcement of changes in over-rate rules.
It will thus be quite bizarre that only two teams played Test matches when the old over-rate regulations were in place and will be benefited as the new laws will be applied from the start of the cycle.
It would only have been fair that the ICC announced the rule changes ahead of the new WTC cycle and then implemented them from the first match so that everyone got a level playing field. It might not sound like a big deal on paper. But if a team gets back points it was docked due to a rule change, it could have a big impact in the long run as the WTC cycle will carry on till 2025 and every point could matter in the end.
On the contrary, it wouldn’t have made sense to wait till 2025 to implement the new rule as it would have been too lengthy a delay to put into effect what was a much-needed modification.
Then again, ICC could have done a better job with regard to the timing of bringing the rule into effect for it to be fair for all participating nations.
Confusion over recalculation
Another pertinent question that obviously arises is how the ICC will rework sanctions for the first Test Ashes 2023 Tests.
An ICC spokesperson told News18 CricketNext about the matter:
“Fines and penalty points will not be universally waived from the first three Test matches, instead they will be re-calculated and the appropriate sanctions will be applied in line with the agreed changes to the revised threshold. It is important to note that if teams are found guilty of breaching the overrate requirements, WTC penalty points will apply, as will reduced player fines.”
Because of the complications due to the decision to apply rules retrospectively, some ambiguity is likely to exist in the implementation.
The Australian hand who played a significant role in the over-rate rule change
Interestingly, Australian opener Usman Khawaja revealed that he had directly approached ICC over hefty fines being imposed on players for slow over-rates. The left-handed batter commented that he was frustrated with cricketers getting punished repeatedly and thus decided to have a frank discussion with the game’s governing body.
Speaking at a recent press conference ahead of the fourth Ashes 2023 Test at Old Trafford, he disclosed:
"I was pretty frustrated with what was happening. I just thought someone has to find a way to speak to the ICC about it. We had played three games and they'd been three really good games with results, [providing] entertainment and we were getting fined 80 percent of our match fee. It's a lot of money.”
Meanwhile, amid changes in over-rate rules, Australia are taking on England in the fourth Ashes 2023 Test in Manchester, which began on Wednesday, July 19.
