The penalty meant that New Zealand, who won the inaugural WTC, dropped from fourth to fifth on the WTC table and their chances of making the final next year has taken a further hi

Dubai: New Zealand's aspirations of qualifying for the World Test Championship Final suffered a setback after they were docked three penalty points due to slow over-rate against England leading

New Zealand's World Test Championship final hopes were dented after the ICC deducted points for slow over-rate in the first Test against England, dropping them to fifth in the standings.

As the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle progresses, India currently leads the standings, with South Africa and Australia closely trailing. To ens

New Zealand now have a points percentage of 47.92 percent and can only move as high as 55.36 percent with victories from their remaining two fixtures against England. South Africa (59.26), Australia (57.26) and Sri Lanka (50) are placed second, third and fourth respectively.

While England are already out of contention of reaching next years World Test Championship final, the deduction in competition points is a major blow to New Zealand.

The International Cricket Council has deducted crucial World Test Championship points of England and New Zealand for slow-over rate during the first Test in Christchurch. The deduction hits a blow to New Zealand's hopes of qualifying for the WTC final.

New Zealand and England have been sanctioned for maintaining a slow over-rate during the opening Test of their series in Christchurch. Both teams were fined 15 per cent of their match fees and penalised three crucial World Test Championship (WTC) competition points,