Australia docked points, fined for slow over-rate

Australia have had salt rubbed into their wounds with a heavy fine and the loss of World Test Championship points landing in the wake of their Boxing Day Test defeat in Melbourne.

Australia's players were fined 40 per cent of their match fee and lost four World Test Championship points for their slow over-rate against India in the second Vodafone Test at the MCG.

Tim Paine's side were already smarting after a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat in the Test that levelled the four-match series at 1-1.

ICC match referee David Boon – who celebrates his 60th birthday today – slapped the penalty on the Aussies after they were ruled to be two overs short of the target over-rate.

Sides are penalised 20 percent of their match fees and two World Test Championship points for every over they fail to bowl in the allotted time.

The penalty took Australia back to 322 points but they retained top spot on the World Test Championship table, ahead of India.

Although India have more total points – 390 of them – due to the complicated way points are divided up depending on the number of matches per series, Australia are ahead due to the percentage of points they have won out of the total number of points contested.

Australia now have a percentage of 0.766. It was 0.835 before the over-rate penalty.

India, who earned 30 points for their win today in Melbourne, now have a percentage of 0.722.

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT