Wellington, Dec 4: England captain Ben Stokes has not signed an over rate sheet since the Ashes Test at Lord’s last year as he is waiting to have conversations with the ICC over his concerns around the over rate calculations.
Stokes’ comments on the over rate came after both England and New Zealand were fined three points each from their World Test Championships tally for maintaining slow over rate during the first Test in Christchurch.
“The most frustrating thing, from both teams’ points of view, is that the game finished early, there was a result. But I think the frustration actually stems back to last year in the Ashes where it was the first time I really brought it up to the match referee and the umpires,” Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“I guess the most frustrating thing is that it’s always an issue depending on where you are in the world and the style of cricket that’s played.
There’s never an over-rate issue in Asia because of how much spin is played.” Stokes had sarcastically posted emojis on social media on Tuesday after the ICC imposed the fines.“There’s so many tactical decisions that you need to make, whether that be chatting with the bowler or field changes,” Stokes went on.
“As a captain, I like to change things quite a lot and the field could be completely different six balls in an over. But that’s not taken into consideration. And getting told to just ‘hurry up’ isn’t going to fix it, because we’re out there playing a game.” Stokes has his reason for not signing the over rate sheet since the Ashes Test last year.
“The two conversations I’ve had with the match referees have actually been very good and the match referees have handled it very, very well and been very understanding from a player’s point of view,” Stokes said.
“But it’s been over a year now since I made some comments around the over rates and still to this day we’re yet to hear any response back from anyone at the ICC around that.” Stokes’ steadfast stance on over rate penalties underscores his frustration with the ICC’s approach to the issue, which he believes fails to consider the tactical complexities of Test cricket.
While his call for clarity and consistency in over rate calculations highlights a pressing concern for teams and captains alike, it remains to be seen whether his ongoing resistance will prompt the ICC to engage in meaningful dialogue. (PTI)
