The New Zealand and England Cricket teams have been penalised with three demerit points due to the slow over-rate during the first Test of the three-match series. This would mean a dash in the Kiwis’ hope to make it to the 2024 World Test Championship Finals at the Lords.
Following the demerit points sanctioned by match referee David Boon, New Zealand are placed fifth in the points table with 47.92 percentage points, dropping one rank below after being the joint fourth in the table previously. This means that the Tom Latham-led community can get a maximum of 55.36 percentage points. Meanwhile, England are already out of contention despite winning the first Test against the Black Caps away from home are placed sixth in the table with 42.50 percentage points.
Both teams were short by three overs and the respective captains – Latham and Ben Stokes – have accepted the levelled charges by the community of match officials including on-field umpires Ahsan Raza, Rod Tucker, third umpire Adrian Holdstrock and fourth umpire Kim Cotton. The charges were further sanctioned by match referee Boon.
Despite the 3-0 whitewash to derail India at their home, the Black Caps seem to have lost their momentum to the World Test Championship Final. With a couple of matches left in the bank, they will have to give their best and wait for other equations to fall in place to help them reach the third cycle’s finals.
