Ben Stokes & Co. defeated India by 22 runs in the third Test played at Lord's and took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, but even after this victory, bad news came for them. ICC has deducted 2 points from England due to slow over rate, and their team has slipped to third place in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table. Now England is even below Sri Lanka.
Why did England's points decrease?
Actually, according to ICC rules, if a team does not complete the overs in the stipulated time, then its points are deducted. England kept the over rate slow in the Lord's Test. Due to this, ICC took action against them and deducted 2 WTC points and also imposed a fine of 10% of the match fee on the entire team.
A statement from the ICC said,
"Under Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which is related to the minimum over rate, players are fined 5% of their match fees for every over short."
England captain Ben Stokes admitted the mistake and accepted the decision, so there was no need for a formal hearing. The allegation was leveled by on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharafuddaula, third umpire Ahsan Raza, and fourth umpire Graham Lloyd.
How is the WTC points table now?
After the points deduction, England now has 22 points from 3 matches, and their win percentage has dropped to 61.11. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has now reached the second position.
England's points were deducted earlier too.
This is not the first time England's points have been deducted. In the last WTC cycle too, 22 points of England were deducted, which had a big impact on their reaching the final.
Why did Stokes take a dig at the ICC?
When England's 3 points were deducted after the match against New Zealand last year, captain Ben Stokes was very angry. He wrote on Instagram Story, "Well done, ICC; the match was over with 10 hours of play remaining, and still the points were deducted."
The next match against India is important.
Now England is leading the series 2-1. Jasprit Bumrah is expected to return in the next test. India would like to level the series by winning the fourth Test to be held in Manchester.
In this way, this victory faded a bit for England due to their slow over rate. Now it remains to be seen whether Stokes' team is able to correct the overrate in the upcoming matches or they will have to face the strictness of the ICC again.