England captain Ben Stokes wasn't really happy with the slow over rate penalty handed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch. Stokes took a swipe at the ICC as he reckoned that the match ended even before the end of the fourth day's play and still getting fined and penalised for the same was ridiculous as both teams were docked three World Test Championship (WTC) points.
"Good on you ICC. Finished the game with 10 hours of play still left," Stokes wrote on his Instagram story on December 3 after the ICC's penalty. Not just the WTC points deduction, both teams copped a 15 per cent match fee fine for being three overs short of the minimum requirement as per the time allowances.
This took England's point deduction to 22 during the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. England have already been ruled out of contention for a spot in the WTC final after losing the three-match Test series to Pakistan in October. However, the penalty hit New Zealand a bit harder given they were still in the qualification race for the final coming into the ongoing series. The loss and now the additional points deduction meant that New Zealand slipped to fifth place on the WTC table.
England took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series following a rather commanding victory in the Christchurch opener last week. Harry Brook and Brydon Carse starred with bat and ball respectively as England won comfortably in the end by eight wickets after attaining a 151-run lead in the first innings.
Even if New Zealand win the remaining couple of Tests, the hosts can only go to a maximum PCT of 55.35, which might not be enough for them to qualify. Hence, India, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka still have a realistic chance of making it to the final. England, on the other hand, would want to seal the series in Wellington in the second Test, set to kick off on December 6.
