Australia’s painfully slow over rates at the Gabba on day one of the second Test could lead to them losing World Test Championship points or copping fines after bowling only 74 overs.
They finished well short of the mandatory 90 overs despite umpires calling for the extra half an hour of play in the evening session.
After going into the match without Nathan Lyon, the five seamers averaged under 12 overs per hour and stand-in skipper Steve Smith deliberately slowed play down in the final hour when it looked like England would declare so that they would avoid a tricky little session before stumps.
England kept batting anyway with Jofra Archer and Joe Root smashing an unbroken stand of 61 to lift the tourists to 9-325 heading into day two.
Australia missed out on the inaugural WTC final in 2021 after they lost points for slow over rates with New Zealand taking their spot and then famously beating India in the decider.
England are no strangers to being sanctioned for being slow with their overs after losing 22 points in the most recent WTC cycle due to their tardiness in the field.
Former Australian batter Simon Katich said the home side deserved to be punished heavily.
“That’s ridiculous,” he said on SEN Cricket.
“To think we are going to get through an extra half and hour of play, so six and a half hours of play today, and this will be 74 overs, is beyond a joke.
“It’s an absolute joke.
“I don’t think I ever played in a game where you didn’t bowl at least 85 overs in the day. It was unheard of.
“And now we are into the 70s.”
Former Aussie fast bowler Damien Fleming added “the penalties don’t mean anything”.
“I don’t think even the great West Indian teams of the 80s would bowl 74, I think they would bowl more than that.”
The decision to bench Lyon backfired on the Aussies with Michael Neser taking just one wicket and Brendan Doggett failing to break through in his 14 overs.
Cameron Green looked threatening but went for 43 without striking in his eight overs while Scott Boland was expensive, returning figures of 1-87 from his 19 overs.
Mitchell Starc, who again carried the attack with 6-71 from 19, said it was a “tough” call to leave Lyon out by George Bailey’s selection panel, similar to the third Test in the Caribbean in July when the Aussies omitted the veteran spinner for an all-out pace attack.
“Everyone wants to play every game and I’m sure he’ll be disappoined not to be playing this week,” he said.
“It’s certainly not a reflection on his skills, much in the same way in the Test match in Jamaica.
“I don’t know what the messaging was from George, but they made the choice for the attack for these conditions which isn’t a reflection on Nathan and his skill set.”
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