England and Australia hit with sanctions for Ashes Tests

England and Australia have been docked crucial ICC World Test Championship points and have been hit with fines for maintaining a slow over-rate during the men's Ashes.

Under the revised regulations, they were fined five percent of their match fee and one WTC point for every over short.

Australia have been docked 10 WTC points from the recently-concluded Ashes series for a slow over-rate in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, while England lost 19 points combined for falling behind in four of the five Tests.

Teams earn 12 points for a Test win, four points for a draw and no points for a loss in the WTC. Typically, a team needs to bowl 90 overs in a day.

England fell two overs short in the first Test at Edgbaston, nine in the second Test at Lord's, three in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, and five in the last and final Test at The Oval.

The latest changes to the over-rate sanctions in Tests were announced at the ICC Annual Conference in Durban, South Africa on Thursday, 13 July, and were put into effect from the start of the current WTC cycle.

Australia were handed a 50 percent fine of their match fee (five percent for each over short with a maximum of 50 percent) for 10 overs in Manchester (fourth Test).

England have been fined 10 percent for the first Test, 45 percent for the second, 15 percent for the fourth, and 25 percent for the fifth of their match fee for slow-over rate offences in the first two and the last two Tests respectively.

England were docked two points for slow over-rate in the first Test, according to the new regulations, which were applied retrospectively from the start of the third edition of the World Test Championship. This penalty supersedes previously announced sanctions.

The closely fought Ashes series ended in a 2-2 draw after England won the last Test by 49 runs on Monday, 31 July. Australia, who had won the previous series, retained the trophy.