Pakistan has been fined 10% of their match fee due to a slow over-rate in the first One-day International against New Zealand held in Napier on Saturday. According to the ICC, Jeff Crowe, who is part of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, decided on this fine after it was found that Pakistan was two overs short, even after considering the time allowances.
The rules surrounding this issue are outlined in Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which deals with over-rate offenses. Basically, when a team fails to bowl their overs in the allocated time, the players are fined 5% of their match fees for each missing over. In this case, Mohammad Rizwan, the captain of the team, admitted to the offense and accepted the fine, so no formal hearing was necessary. The on-field umpires—Chris Brown and Paul Reiffel, along with third umpire Michael Gough and fourth umpire Wayne Knights—were the ones who charged the team with this violation.
On the match day, New Zealand secured a solid victory by 73 runs, thanks in large part to Mark Chapman, who had an outstanding performance. He scored a career-best 132 runs off only 111 balls. Along with Daryl Mitchell’s solid 76, New Zealand managed to set a challenging target of 344 runs. On top of that, Muhammad Abbas made a new record by scoring the fastest fifty by a batsman on debut.
Pakistan had a strong start in their chase. Babar Azam played a smooth innings, scoring 78 runs, and Salman Agha added an exciting fifty, putting them in a strong position at one point. However, things took a sudden turn when they lost seven wickets for just 22 runs, going from a promising 249 for 3 to being all out for just 271.
In other news, New Zealand will miss Chapman in the upcoming second ODI in Hamilton due to a right hamstring injury he picked up while fielding in the first match. An MRI scan later confirmed he has a grade one tear, which will need some time to heal. Tim Seifert, who has been in good form recently, will step in for Chapman in Hamilton. He comes into the squad after impressing in a recent T20I series against Pakistan, where he was the top scorer with 249 runs, averaging 62.