After seeing just 75 overs being bowled on day 2 of the third Test between Ben Stokes' side and India at Lord's, an exasperated former England captain Michael Vaughan wanted teams to mandatorily bowl full quota of 90 overs on all five days of a match.
India bowled 83 overs on day 1 of the Test, while less than 75 overs could be squeezed in on day 2, leaving a combined shortfall of nearly 23 overs over two days.
Vaughan said penalising the teams for slow over-rate was not good enough as the players were "quite rich" and won't be affected by the fines imposed on them.
"I don't' think fines work. I think these lads (cricketers) are quite rich. I don't think the cash is going to affect them," opined Vaughan, who played 82 Tests and scored more than 7,500 runs across formats, on BBC Sport.
He was at a loss to understand how teams were unable to complete the full quota of overs on the first four days when they managed all 90 overs on the fifth and final day.
"(It's) been a problem for Test match cricket for a while. I know it's hot. I know we've had a few injuries. But when we get to the fifth day, we have to bowl the 90 overs. I've no idea why on day one, two, three and four we can see the game played at a snail's pace," he said.
Vaughan said the teams should show the same kind of urgency on all five days, and not just on the final day.
"Surely the game just moves on by saying 'on day one there's 90 overs. Guess what we're going to do?
"We're going to bowl 90 overs on day 2 exactly the same'... you watch on day 5 when the players, the umpires know that 90 overs have to be bowled, they'll be running around, there won't be as many drinks breaks, there won't be as many delays because they know that 90 overs has to be bowled," he added.
He added that once teams start bowling the full quota of overs every day, Test matches will get more lively.
"So I'd make it very, very simple. You have to bowl the 90 overs. I would guarantee that would improve the pace (of the matches)."
