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Australia captain Aaron Finch warns against issuing run penalties for slow over rates

Scott BaileyThe West Australian
Aaron Finch of Australia gestures after bringing up his half-century during the second ODI cricket match between Australia and India at the SCG in Sydney.
Camera IconAaron Finch of Australia gestures after bringing up his half-century during the second ODI cricket match between Australia and India at the SCG in Sydney. Credit: DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAPIMAGE

Australia captain Aaron Finch has warned against issuing runs penalties for slow over rates, pointing out batsmen can also dictate the pace of play.

The drawn-out nature of the opening two ODIs between Australia and India has been one of the chief talking points of the series, with Friday’s opener at the SCG going beyond 11pm.

India’s players were docked 20 per cent of their match fees for that match, but both teams escaped fines when Sunday’s second game also ran late.

The issue has prompted debate over the best way to police the issue, with captains no longer facing bans.

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Former Australia captain Michael Clarke this week joined a chorus of calls for fielding teams to cop run penalties for each over they are behind in white-ball matches.

Shane Warne argued on Sunday that teams should be docked as many as 25 runs per over they were behind.

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Aaron Finch of Australia drops KL Rahul of India during the second ODI cricket match between Australia and India at the SCG in Sydney.
Camera IconAaron Finch of Australia drops KL Rahul of India during the second ODI cricket match between Australia and India at the SCG in Sydney. Credit: DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAPIMAGE

But Finch said that, while the slow over-rates were “disappointing“, runs penalties could prove unfair and open to manipulation.

“You have to be really careful if you decide to bring runs penalties in, because a lot of the time the batting team is actually the one slowing down the innings,” Finch said.

“If you start to punish bowling teams, it becomes a real raffle and tough job to police where you are taking minutes from.

“A few times when you change gloves, that might take a little too long and the fielding team is waiting. That all gets put on the fielding captain.

“I know it all goes both ways, but you have to be really careful when you do that if you start dishing out runs penalties.”

Under ICC provisions points can be stripped from teams’ World Cup Super League ladder.

India avoided that punishment last week when handed their fine, with the ICC ruling they were only one over behind despite their bowling innings going 37 minutes over time.

The match referee takes into account injuries, third umpire referrals and time- wasting by the batting side when considering if teams went slower than 14.28 overs per hour.

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