England are in line to cop an over-rate penalty for their first bowling innings in the Brisbane Ashes Test, but Australia are set to get away with also falling behind the required rate. Here's why.
Throughout the second Ashes Test, both sides have been well below the minimum required overs set out in the ICC's World Test Championship playing conditions to be bowled per hour.
The playing conditions stipulate that the minimum over-rates in a Test match is 15 overs per hour. The over-rate is calculated at the end of the match by the umpires, with allowances given for time lost while players receive treatment, player reviews and time-wasting by the batting side, as well as wickets lost and innings breaks.
Both sides have chosen to go into the Test without a specialist spinner. The only spin bowled in the game by the end of day three was 11.3 overs in Australia's first innings by Will Jacks. Thus, with the vast majority of overs being bowled by fast-bowlers, overs take longer to bowl with no spinners to rattle through a spell and improve the over-rate.
Australia set to avoid over-rate penalty
Australia and stand-in captain Steve Smith were criticised at the end of day one for wasting time at the end of the day. At the end of the England first innings early on day two, they were eight overs behind the required rate. The WTC playing conditions state that "a team will have one ICC World Test Championship competition point deducted from its points total for each Penalty Over it incurs". Thus Australia would have been facing losing eight WTC points.
However, the playing conditions stipulate that if a fielding team bowls a side out in 80 overs or less "no account shall be taken of that actual over rate in that innings". Further, clause 19.9.4.1 states: "if the fielding team bowls out the batting team twice and has not completed more than 160 overs in total across both of its fielding innings, no sanction may be imposed in respect of a breach of clause 12.9.1 (minimum overs bowled per hour)."
At the end of day three, England had batted for 35 overs in their second innings and are six wickets down. Their innings is unlikely to continue to reach 80 overs, meaning not only will they again fail to reach the 80-over threshold, but they will not have reached the 160-over threshold for the match. Thus, Australia will not face any penalty for being behind on their over-rate.
England face more over-rate sanctions
England on the other hand, are likely to be handed a points deduction. Australia batted well past 80 overs in their first innings, reaching 511 from 117.3 overs. When the final wicket fell, England were four overs behind the required rate. If Australia don't bat again, and therefore don't cross the 160 marker, England will still be penalised because they only had one bowling innings, which exceeded 80 overs. The stipulation for the 160 over threshold to apply is that "the fielding team bowls out the batting team twice."
England have previously fallen foul of over-rate penalties on multiple occasions. They were docked 22 points collectively across the 2023-25 cycle of the World Test Championship – more than any other side – and have already been penalised by two points in this cycle. Assuming they lose the Brisbane Test, their WTC PCT would drop to 26.19, dropping them behind New Zealand to seventh in the table.
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