Melbourne, Nov. 14 : Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland has called for the introduction of harsher penalties for slow over rates, including docking of championship or rankings points.

According to The Ages, Sutherland said the game lacked the necessary sanctions to prevent teams falling behind in their allocated overs. He suggested a more emphatic system of punishment than the current fines and suspensions in place, citing the Sheffield Shield approach of docking points from slow-going teams.

"Umpires certainly have that responsibility out on the ground, but they have a responsibility to communicate (about slow over rates). They don''t necessarily have a remedy or a stick in their hand to deal with that," Sutherland was quoted, as saying.

"We''ve been very successful here in first-class cricket by introducing penalties that are aligned to points, so, all of a sudden, no one has trouble bowling 96 overs in a day in Sheffield Shield cricket because if they don''t, it will impact on their points and it will mean there will be a greater likelihood they will miss out on the Sheffield Shield final,” he added.

"I think we and other member countries with the ICC need to have a close look at where we''re at with over rates, where we''re getting to in terms of whether the remedies in place are appropriate, and how we can improve in that regard because it''s obviously been an issue in this series as it has been in the last couple of years," he said. (ANI)