The England cricket team suffered a deduction of a couple of World Test Championship (WTC) points after the third game of the ongoing five-match series against India at Lord's. The deduction reduced England's PCT by more than five per cent, and the hosts dropped from the joint-second place to the third for maintaining the slow over-rate. Apart from gripping cricket on show, the Lord's Test also made headlines for the Dukes ball getting changed multiple times, an increase in the number of drinks and loo breaks and other such stuff, which meant only 75 overs were bowled on the second day.
England have been on the receiving end of points being docked from their kitty from the previous WTC cycle onwards. England lost as many as 22 points in the previous cycle which is almost equal to the number of points for two wins. It will be critical for Ben Stokes and Co not to repeat the same mistake as they have begun the new cycle well, with a couple of wins against a strong opposition in India and if they have to keep the hopes alive of maiden final qualification.
| Rank | Teams | Matches | Wins | Losses | Draw | Points | Ded. | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Australia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 100 |
| 2. | Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 66.67 |
| 3. | England | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 2 | 61.11 |
| 4. | India | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 33.33 |
| 5. | Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 16.67 |
| 6. | West Indies | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Zealand | Yet to play | |||||||
| Pakistan | Yet to play | |||||||
| South Africa | Yet to play |
Australia remained at the pole position with three wins in three matches played during the West Indies tour, which concluded a day ago with the visitors clinching the series 3-0, finishing up the day-night decider in 2.5 days. India, with two defeats and one win, are in fourth place while the West Indies are in sixth spot, having lost all three matches.
New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan are yet to begin their campaigns in the new WTC cycle. South Africa, the reigning champs, played a couple of Tests against Zimbabwe at the start of this month, but that series wasn't part of the WTC cycle, similarly, the two Test matches for the Black Caps against the same opposition in August.
