Australia cricketer Usman Khawaja expressed his frustration over being charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for slow over-rate during the fourth Test of the Ashes series. The international cricket governing body has imposed a fine on the Australian team with deduction of 10 WTC points as well as 50 percent of the match fee for slow over-rate. Khawaja’s anger comes from the fact the Australian team didn’t get to bowl in the second innings due to continuous rain.
Along with the Australian team, their Ashes rivals, England have also been penalised with three WTC points as well as 15 percent of their match fee of the fourth Test. Not only this, but the Three Lions were also charged with deduction of two points for the same reason in the first Test as well as nine WTC points deduction in the second Test.
Khawaja slammed the ICC for the imposed penalty through a tweet. He tweeted, “Don't even get the chance to bowl in the second innings at Manchester due to 2 days of rain and @ICC still issue fines and take 10 WTC points of us for slow over rates! That makes a lot of sense…”
Not only this, but earlier during the fifth day of the final Ashes Test, Khawaja expressed his frustration over the ball change during the match. He believed that this factor played a huge role in England’s comeback in the game to win the Test. Notably, the hosts ended up winning the fifth Test with a notable margin of 49 runs and ended the series 2-2, with Australia retaining the trophy.