England docked WTC points for slow over-rate in Lord's Test, slip to 3rd in standings
London, Jul 16 (PTI): The England cricket team slipped a rung to third position in the World Test Championship table on Wednesday after being docked two points for maintaining a slow over rate in the third Test against India at Lord's.
Ben Stokes and Co. were also fined 10 per cent of their match fee after the Test, which they won by 22 runs on Monday.
Match referee Richie Richardson imposed the sanction after England were ruled to be two overs short of the target when time allowances were taken into consideration. India are fourth in the WTC points table right now.
"In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined five per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time," the ICC said in statement.
"In addition, as per Article 16.11.2 of the ICC World Test Championship playing conditions, a side is penalised one point for each over short. Consequently, two World Test Championship points have been deducted from England's points total," it added.
England's tally in the World Test Championship standings dropped from 24 to 22 out of 36 points, consequently reducing their point percentage (PCT) from 66.67 per cent to 61.11 per cent.
As a result, Sri Lanka, who have a 66.67 PCT, have taken over England to be second.
Australia leads the WTC table with a 100 percentage point having won all three of their games so far, while India have 33.33 PCT
England captain Ben Stokes pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
On-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, third umpire Ahsan Raza and fourth umpire Graham Lloyd levelled the charge.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
