How can the ICC raise over-rates?

[barmyarmy]

Something that came from the England/India thread. India are by no means the only culprits and unless they're bowling two spinners teams don't usually manage to bowl 15 overs per hour.
Is the expected over-rate too high? Seeing as how run-rates are now higher could it be lowered? What should the ICC do to encourage faster over-rates? Is it fair to ban the team captain (as happened to Paul Collingwood recently in the ODI side)?

I think I'd favour lowering the expected rate to 14 per hour and then getting tough on teams that drop below that (with discretion being exercised for events like injuries, extra drinks breaks). I think it's also worth remembering that the batting team can and do slow the over-rate.
In terms of penalties I'd go for bonus runs to be added on (or taken off) at the r/r of the batting team. So if England bowled 7 overs less than they should and India scored at 3.4 rpo I'd add 24 runs onto extras.

 

[sohum]

Colin, from what I heard on the telecast today, they factor in things like wickets, drinks breaks and stoppages in play. That is why India, despite bowling 14.4 overs an hour in England's first innings and 12.4 overs an hour at the point this was brought up, were actually 4 overs ahead of the rate.

I agree that the limit should be brought down to 14, but I don't think adding extras is the answer as you will end up with strange calculations then, to figure out who wins, in close matches. I would be happier with taking away privileges from the guilty team.

For example, if a team is behind their over-rate they will not be allowed to take a new ball for the remainder of the session. Many times we see 80 overs being bowled in the 6 hours of play and then the dangerous new ball being taken in fading light and with fatigued batsmen. If you can't bowl your overs in time, that privilege should be taken away, or delayed.

I can't really think of any other punishments that could be handed out that don't affect the traditional game too drastically, so it seems like fines and bans are the best way to go. However, there needs to be more transparency, and no warnings. Surely captains by now know what the required numbers of overs is, and should not need to be warned. I'm sure if we see Dhoni and KP missing the next game, the next series these guys feature in, the respective teams will be quickly back up to the 15 overs an hour. As for transparency, the ICC match referee/statisticians should somehow publish how much the calculated over rate is.

 

[Kev]

I'm not too much in favour of penalising sides runs, or doing things like free hits etc for a slow over rate in test match cricket. It's also important to consider that you don't want a match ruined by the captain having to bowl a spinner (or two) just to get through some overs. I'd prefer test cricket stay as pure as possible without any bonuses or penalties. The over rate is really only talked about so much these days because of TV scheduling, the TV companies don't like that sessions go on late and the commentators constantly bang on about it.

Having said that, a realistic rate should be set and stuck too. It's not hard to work out how many overs you need to bowl a session. 30. Didn't need a calculator to work it out and neither should a captain, there's a couple of whacking great scoreboards he can look at and a clock if he needs to. Any overs taken out of the days play can clearly be seen on the scoreboard. Take time out of Lunch and Tea if the overs haven't been bowled and extend the third session until the 30 have been bowled. This way instead of tagging all the overs on at the end of the day they are divided into 3 lots so the match shouldn't finish as late.

If they really want to do something about the slow rate, stop players leaving the field all the time and stop bringing out drinks every time a wicket falls. They come out from lunch, the next over a wicket falls and out runs the 12th man with the drinks. THEY JUST HAD ONE 3MINS AGO!!!!!

 

[sohum]

I like the idea of extending each session until the 30 overs are bowled. As for drinks, in some cases it is understandable, especially in super hot and humid sessions, but I do think these days the players are pampering themselves a bit much.

 

[barmyarmy]

I agree that the logistics of adding penalty runs would be complicated especially on the final day when a target has been set although were it to be done at the end of an hour it might work.
As Kev says though you could potentially have a ridiculous situation where the runs would suddenly jump up by 10 as the hour rolled past changing the result. No-one wants to see spinners bowling purely to increase the over-rate but that happens already anyway.

barmyarmy added 0 Minutes and 36 Seconds later...

I like the idea of extending each session until the 30 overs are bowled. As for drinks, in some cases it is understandable, especially in super hot and humid sessions, but I do think these days the players are pampering themselves a bit much.

Extra-late lunch!. That really would mess up the TV schedules...

 

[Kev]

It's not a late lunch, its a shorter lunch.

 

[sohum]

Yup, not to mention the so-called "expert analysis" usually isn't very useful to begin with, especially in India.

 

[Sureshot]

It's not a late lunch, its a shorter lunch.

Do players need a 40 minute break? I think you could cut it down to 20 minutes, like the Tea interval.

 

[Insomniac]

It depends - how many of the players actually "eat" during the lunch

Prehaps lunch should be shortened to 30 minutes instead, surely there isn't that many slow eaters in world cricket.

 

[Kev]

There's no point in shortening it all the time to get the overs in because it won't address the issue, they will just adjust to the longer sessions and slow accordingly. Just take time out of the breaks when they are behind the over rate.

In County matches Tea is taken at 3:40 or more often when 32 overs remain. The tea interval isn't shortened though and it's pretty much always taken when 32 overs remain, ie: late! (96 overs in a day with county cricket btw). So moving it around doesn't help, but if they only got 10mins if they were late then perhaps it would.

 

[smssia0112]

There's no point in shortening it all the time to get the overs in because it won't address the issue, they will just adjust to the longer sessions and slow accordingly. Just take time out of the breaks when they are behind the over rate.

In County matches Tea is taken at 3:40 or more often when 32 overs remain. The tea interval isn't shortened though and it's pretty much always taken when 32 overs remain, ie: late! (96 overs in a day with county cricket btw). So moving it around doesn't help, but if they only got 10mins if they were late then perhaps it would.

Sounds like a sensible idea. We should also not be going in for breaks at specified times if there are a lot of overs still to bowl. When there are rain/light breaks, use that time for the lunch or tea break.

 

[aussie1st]

It seems to be a problem in the sub contient as when Aus got back home their overrates picked up. We hardly had to go overtime and each day saw the 90 overs bowled.

 

[sohum]

Another thing to remember is the umpires. If it takes 30 minutes extra before lunch to get the 30 overs in, that means that the umpires will pretty much have to be concentrating 4 hours in a row, which can get really difficult especially in energy-sapping conditions like in the subcontinent.

sohum added 1 Minutes and 46 Seconds later...

It seems to be a problem in the sub contient as when Aus got back home their overrates picked up. We hardly had to go overtime and each day saw the 90 overs bowled.

I think it's oversimplification to blame it on the subcontinent. There were at least two other factors which may have affected that:

- Increased media coverage of over-rates and impending pressure from the ICC
- Australia, for the most part, weren't put under pressure by New Zealand, unlike in India when they were playing catch-up quite a bit

 

[Kev]

Another thing to remember is the umpires. If it takes 30 minutes extra before lunch to get the 30 overs in, that means that the umpires will pretty much have to be concentrating 4 hours in a row, which can get really difficult especially in energy-sapping conditions like in the subcontinent.

Shouldn't get that far behind in a single session though. Remember at the moment the time added at the end of the day is across all 3 sessions so you should really only be adding a third. If 30mins is deemed enough time at the moment you should only be looking at 10mins off the break.

 

[Sureshot]

There's no point in shortening it all the time to get the overs in because it won't address the issue, they will just adjust to the longer sessions and slow accordingly. Just take time out of the breaks when they are behind the over rate.

In County matches Tea is taken at 3:40 or more often when 32 overs remain. The tea interval isn't shortened though and it's pretty much always taken when 32 overs remain, ie: late! (96 overs in a day with county cricket btw). So moving it around doesn't help, but if they only got 10mins if they were late then perhaps it would.

We've never had tea at 3:40 at Hove!