West Indies docked WTC ranking points for slow over-rate

West Indies slips to eighth in the World Test Championship standings after being docked two points for a slow over-rate in the first Test against England in Antigua.

West Indies bowled 188.5 overs across two innings in the first Test against England.

West Indies on Monday slipped to eighth in the World Test Championship standings after being docked two points for slow over-rate during its drawn first Test against England in Antigua.

West Indies was found to have been two overs short after reasonable adjustments and time allowances had been taken into consideration, the ICC said. Besides the penalty in the form of ranking points, all members of the team were fined 40 per cent of their match fee.

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This was West Indies’ first slow over-rate offence in the 2021-2023 Championship cycle. Two other teams have incurred penalties of this sort in the ongoing cycle: India (three points) and England (10 points). As per the WTC playing conditions, a team will be penalised one WTC point and players fined 20 percent of their match fees for every over it has failed to bowl in the allotted time.

West Indies’ four-pronged seam attack bowled the bulk of the 188.5 overs as the Antigua Test saw England bat long in both innings. Veerasammy Permaul sent down just 25 overs of his left-arm spin in the match.

Brathwaite has said it is an area for improvement going into the second Test in Barbados from Wednesday.

“There are some areas in terms of run rate we can improve and it’s simply just setting the field and bowling to it and being disciplined enough to bowl to that field,” said Brathwaite.