Misbah gets test ban for slow over-rate

DUBAI: Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq has been banned from the first test against Sri Lanka in Galle that starts on Friday as punishment for his team's slow over-rate in the final match of the one-day series.

Pakistan were three overs short of the required rate during Monday's match in Colombo, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a news release on Tuesday.

The ICC added that this was a ""serious over-rate offence" in limited-over cricket.

A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman told Reuters that Misbah would be replaced as skipper on Friday by vice-captain Mohammed Hafeez.

Hafeez has captained Pakistan in two Twenty20s but has yet to lead the team in a one-dayer or a test.

The Pakistan players involved in Monday's encounter, a game they lost by two wickets to suffer a 3-1 defeat in the series, were fined 40 percent of their match fees by the ICC.

The fines were based on a 10% penalty for each of the first two overs and a further 20 percent for the additional over they failed to bowl in the allotted time of three and a half hours.

It is the second time in six months an international captain has been suspended for a slow over-rate.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also banned for the fourth test against Australia in January.

Dhoni was punished for incurring two over-rate breaches in the same form of the game in a 12-month period.

India were three overs short of their required rate in a test against West Indies in Barbados in June 2011 and then two overs short in Perth this year.