Our experts' solutions to cricket's slow play problem

Telegraph

16-07-2025

Thrilling though much of the action has been, England's Test series with India has been blighted by all manner of dark arts and delaying tactics in order to exact marginal gains and frustrate the opposition.
We asked our cricket writers how best to deal with this growing problem.
Bowl 90 overs – however long it takes
I have really never understood why we bowl 90 overs on day five, going as late as we need to get the overs in, but just knock it on the head at 6.30pm on the other days.
I think if the players knew that we had to bowl 90 overs, regardless of the time it finishes, that would focus their minds. It was great theatre watching Zak Crawley chew up minutes at Lord's knowing they were finishing at 6.30, but it wouldn't have even been on the cards if everyone involved knew they were carrying on regardless of the time. England would have had to front up and face the music.
It's all kicking off at Lord's!
Zak Crawley is doing everything to slow down the final over of the day, the Indian players are sarcastically applauding as he calls over the physio... 🍿 pic.twitter.com/Lkgr2Fi1Ho
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 12, 2025
The players don't want to be finishing at 7.45pm. They want to be out of the ground and resting up long before then. I think that would help us see fewer unofficial drinks breaks, bathroom stops and the rest. It would be in the umpires' interests to get it done too.
It would probably mean play does finish a bit later, but I can't see anyone not wanting that. Broadcasters and punters get more content and value overall.
It's quite simple: you have to bowl 90 overs in a day regardless of the time.
Start at 10.30am and don't end play until 90 overs are bowled
Two simple tweaks will solve this problem. The start time in England should be shifted half an hour earlier to 10.30am with a two-and-a-half-hour opening session. This was the time the 2005 Ashes started, and 11am has only become the norm in the Sky monopoly era because they have clear schedules on their sports channels, whereas the terrestrial broadcasters such as Channel 4 needed the cricket to be finished before prime time.
The other change is to make it a regulation that all 90 overs are bowled in a day. It happens on day five, so why not days one to four? If they have to go off for bad light, fine, that is part of cricket. But if the players know they have to bowl the overs, like they do in white-ball cricket, then inevitably they will get on with it.
The earlier start time also takes in one crucial factor. The game has been slowed by technology. When Dickie Bird was umpiring, his decisions were final. There was no on-field checking. Now we have multiple stoppages for technology. Teams have 15 seconds to decide on a review. Those reviews follow a set protocol, often checking for things that are irrelevant, such as whether the batsman has got a nick on the ball when they have clearly missed it.
Every line call is double-checked such as run-outs and stumpings even when, again, it is clearly not out and the fielders, batsmen and umpires have taken up their positions while everyone hangs around waiting for the 'not out' verdict on the screen.
How often do we have to wait an age while the third umpire checks whether a fielder's left bootlace has touched the boundary sponge therefore making it a four and not a three? Then we have deliberations over whether catches carried or not, causing an endless checking of replays.
Concussion tests are mandatory even if a player is clearly fine and has just had a small glancing blow to a modern helmet. When did we last see a player fail a concussion test? These are all stoppages previous generations never had to worry about.
And finally, just empower the umpires to crack down more on slow play and shoo away 12th men with water bottles and bananas when they try to sneak on for unscheduled drinks breaks.
Fine players – and umpires – a portion of their match fee
The first thing to accept is that in countries where seamers bowl more overs, 15 per hour all day is a pipe-dream due to innovations like Decision Review System (DRS), boundary checks and concussion protocols. More realistic is 13 or 14. Once you accept that, you can start having a serious conversation about how we get 90 overs bowled in a day.
As we have seen in this India series, it is also not only the responsibility of the fielding side to set the pace of play. The batsmen have arguably wasted more time than the bowling teams so far. For that reason, I struggle with run-penalties, and we have seen that deducting World Test Championship points doesn't really work, either.
Like Nick, I would start at 10.30am, with the close at 6.30pm. It was good enough in the Channel 4 days, and good enough for the World Test Championship final, so why not for normal home Tests?
I would allow lunch to be taken only when 30 overs have been bowled, and tea after 60. For each over lost at the end of the day, I would fine every player and both umpires a portion of their match fee, and identify individuals causing the biggest delays, and double their fine.
The umpires need to take more control. No random drinks breaks, no mid-session bathroom breaks, no begging for ball changes when the conditions suit. Have a shot clock, and actually use it.
Empower umpires and ensure 15 overs in final hour
Long before DRS, over-rates were in long-term decline. From an average of 110.5 six-ball overs in six hours of Test cricket in the 1950s, there were 86.1 in the 1980s. In the 2020s, that number has fallen to just 81.5, according to Benedict Bermange, Sky Sports' statistician.
Yet while over-rates have plummeted, playing regulations have not adjusted to this reality. Officially, all Test match days still only comprise six hours, with an extra half-hour available in case the overs are not bowled in time. In reality, even with the extra half-hour, there is not enough time in the average day for 90 overs to be bowled.
The first step administrators should take is to extend the Test day. In England, all Tests should start at 10.30am, with an extended session until lunch. That would mean the playing time in a day could expand to up to seven hours. The extra time per match would allow for at least 30 extra overs to be bowled.
This change should be accompanied by an equally important shift: empowering umpires. The third and fourth days at Lord's both culminated in farcical time-wasting from the batting teams, desperate to avoid having to face an extra over. Happily, there is a simple solution. During the final day of Test matches, when the last hour begins, there are a guaranteed 15 overs, regardless of how long they take. The same rule should be applied to the last hour of every day in every Test.
At the same time, umpires should clamp down on players, whether from the batting or bowling team, slowing down the pace of play: for instance, barring drinks coming on within minutes of a previous drinks break.
And when, say, there are five minutes of a session remaining, and the batting side desperately want to ensure that they only have to face a solitary over? Umpires should tell both sides that there will be two overs of extra cricket no matter what.
Kumar Sangakkara makes a valid point that 80 high-class overs make for better entertainment than 90 overs with padding. For example do we really want to see Joe Root whipping through five or six overs of flat offies to get England's over-rate up? No, quality has to be more important than quantity.
Yet there has to be a minimum standard, otherwise the number of overs per day will continue to decrease and the interruptions to increase. I would trial 85 overs per day with a start time of 10.45am. So the game has an extra 45 minutes, instead of the current 30, to catch up with the minimum overs.
Sounds like a compromise, I know, but I think it is a good place to draw a line in the sand.
There is no point in wishing for a return to the good old days of 20 or even 15 overs per hour. The concussion tests have to be done every time someone is hit on the helmet. DRS reviews do not detract from the drama: if anything they keep everyone guessing and heighten it.
And the last thing you want Test cricketers to be doing is to focus on time and the number of overs, for that way limited-overs cricket lies. Tests are best because they are to all intents a fight to the finish without any constrictions of time.