EDGBASTON: Pakistan have been fined 50% of their match fee and hit with a pair of sanctions for maintaining a slow over-rate during the third and final ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Test against England at Edgbaston.
Pakistan were found to be 11 overs short of the required rate after time allowances were taken into account during the Test, which England won by eight wickets.
As a result, Pakistan’s players were fined 50% of their match fees, while the team were also docked 11 points from their WTC tally.
The sanctions were imposed by Ranjan Madugalle of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees after on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffaney, third umpire Allahudien Palekar and fourth umpire Russell Warren levelled the charge.
The 11-point deduction leaves Pakistan ninth in the WTC standings with a points percentage of 4.63.
Under Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, players are fined five per cent of their match fee for every over their team fails to bowl within the allotted time, with the maximum penalty capped at 50%.
Meanwhile, Article 16.11.2 of the ICC World Test Championship playing conditions states that a team is penalised one championship point for every over it falls short of the required rate.
Pakistan have therefore lost 11 WTC points following their defeat at Edgbaston.
The national team’s next WTC assignment will come in November when they host Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series, with the matches scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi and Lahore.
For the unversed, Pakistan endured heavy defeats in the first two Tests of the England series, suffering an innings and 103-run loss at Headingley before losing the Lord’s Test by 194 runs.
Following those defeats, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released seven players from the squad and brought in five uncapped players — Razaullah, Arafat Minhas, Imran Randhawa, Mohammad Imran Junior and Saad Baig. Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal also returned to the squad.
The coaching setup was also reshuffled, with red-ball coaches Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul released and white-ball coaches Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke taking charge.
However, Hesson’s first assignment as red-ball coach ended in disappointment as England secured an eight-wicket victory at Edgbaston after successfully chasing a target of 130.
The major positive for Pakistan was Razaullah’s impressive Test debut. The pacer regularly breached the 140kph mark, claimed four wickets, including that of Joe Root, and scored a rapid 81 off 63 balls, hitting four fours and nine sixes.
