‘It’s an absolute joke’: Australia’s three overs in 18 minutes that have cricket greats fuming

The decision to drop spinner Nathan Lyon and field four fast bowlers contributed to Australia’s slow over rate, while the Australians caused consternation with their apparent delaying tactics in the field so the home team would not have to face the pink ball under floodlights.

If they had dismissed England, or if England had declared, with less than 10 minutes left in the day the Australians would not have had to bat that night.

At 9-264, at the start of the 68th over, skipper Steve Smith had an extended chat to bowler Scott Boland at the top of his run-up. Umpire Adrian Holdstock approached Smith and appeared to ask him to hurry up. It took 53 seconds from when the camera was first on Smith to when Root faced up to bat.

After two deliveries, wicketkeeper Alex Carey was given a helmet, and Smith was shown walking back with Boland, before dashing back to slip. That took about 40 seconds.

After four deliveries, Archer was on strike, and Smith was shown again changing his field. That over lasted six minutes.

In the following over, delivered by Mitchell Starc, Seven commentator James Brayshaw pointed out the go-slow. Ricky Ponting joked: “If I was Jake Weatherald … the shoelaces would be coming undone every second step.”

After four deliveries of the Starc over, a helmet was run on for Head, who went to short-leg with Archer on strike. Smith continued to wave his hands about, sending fielders into the deep. As Ponting pointed out, the Australians were already six overs behind.

But after just one delivery, Head threw his helmet to Carey, and went to deep long-off, while Marnus Labuschagne was sent to the deep square leg area.

The 70th over, from Boland, was punished by Archer, the first delivery muscled over wide fine leg for six. There was more change in the field after a skied second delivery landed safely in the deep.

After the fifth ball, Smith took himself to third man with Root on strike. All fielders were in the deep, but Root found a gap at wide long-on for four. There were 19 runs scored from that over, and overs 68 to 70 took a combined 18 minutes to complete.

England’s boundary-laden fightback also meant more time was used up, while the spread field contributed to delays.

There were 24 overs bowled in the first session, 23 in the second and 27 in the elongated final session, which included two DRS reviews.

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By comparison, when the teams last played a pink-ball Test in Australia, in Adelaide in the 2021-22 summer, 89 overs were bowled by England on day one – 25 overs in first session, 28 in the second, 36 in the final.

Australia’s glacial pace at the Gabba was highlighted in the 74th and final over of day one when Smith and Root exchanged words during seamer Michael Neser’s over.

In the Seven box, Brayshaw, with access to pitch microphones, said Smith questioned Root over “just why he needed to go down and do some gardening” with the bat. “Quite rightly, Joe Root turned around and said, ‘You have been doing it for 20 minutes’,” Brayshaw said.

Australia missed the inaugural WTC final in 2021after being docked points for a slow over rate against India at the MCG.

“Penalties don’t mean anything,” Fleming said on SEN.

Under the pump: Australian coach Andrew McDonald and stand-in skipper Smith on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images

“I don’t think even the great West Indian teams of the ’80s would bowl 74 – I think they would bowl more than that.”

Former Australian batter Simon Katich described the over rate as “ridiculous”.

“To think we are going to get through an extra half and hour of play, so six and a half hours of play today, and this will be 74 overs, is beyond a joke. It’s an absolute joke,” he told SEN.

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“I don’t think I ever played in a game where you didn’t bowl at least 85 overs in the day. It was unheard of. And now we are into the 70s.”

The ICC introduced the minimum 90 overs a day in 1987 because of declining over rates, partly in response to the West Indies almost always fielding four fast bowlers.

Under revised penalties, each player is fined 20 per cent of their match fee for every lost over.

Former England fast bowler Steven Finn claimed Smith had been changing the field between deliveries in the final hour of play to avoid facing the new ball under floodlights.

“[It] certainly strikes me that this is a good time for Australia to be delaying things. [It] means that, if this last wicket does fall, each minute that goes by, it’s a minute that England won’t have that bright pink ball in their hand in these conditions,” Finn said on TNT Sports.

But Starc, the star striker for the home team with 6-71 on Thursday, wasn’t concerned.

“If we keep taking the wickets, I won’t worry about it,” Starc said.

England were docked 22 points in the 2023 Test championship cycle for slow over rates, prompting captain Ben Stokes to call for more rule changes as he argued teams that regularly played on the subcontinent got through their overs more quickly because they used more spinners.

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