Ben Stokes has hit back at the International Cricket Council after England were hit by a World Test Championship points deduction, claiming the governing body has failed to engage with his concerns.
England lost 15 per cent of their match fees and three World Test Championship points for bowling their over too slowly in last week’s victory over New Zealand in Christchurch, having previously been slapped with a massive 19-point deduction for the same reason at the end of the 2023 Ashes series.
Taking to Instagram after the latest punishment, which came after England beat the Black Caps a day and half ahead of the scheduled finish, he wrote ‘good on you ICC’ and ‘Finished the game with 10 hours of play still left’. He also posted three shoulder shrugging emojis.
Elaborating on his mounting frustrations, Stokes revealed he had raised a number of issues with ICC match referee Andy Pycroft following the Lord’s Test against Australia 18 months ago but had yet to receive any response from those higher up.
As a result he has declined to sign the official sheet to acknowledge England’s latest infringement, essentially a symbolic protest given the sanctions were formally accepted, but one that reflects his growing annoyance.
“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 here any response back from anyone at the ICC around that,” he said.
“From a players point of view I’m not the only one who shares this opinion, that we would like to have a lot more communication with the ICC around this. I’ve not signed an over-rate sheet since Lord’s in the Ashes, just until we hear some communication back from the ICC that we’re still waiting for.
“It needs to be discussed I think, from the ICC to the captains of all the teams. It’s been over a year and we’ve had no communication whatsoever. When you’re having results in games and you know teams are losing out on points, getting fined and stuff like that, it’s not working at the moment.”
Stokes offered an insight into some of his misgivings, suggesting Tests featuring more seam than spin should not be held to the same levels and also stressing the importance of allowing captains enough leeway to make in-game alterations worrying about watching the clock.
“There needs to be some consideration around how over-rates are going to differ,” he said.
“Obviously you get way more seam bowled in England, Australia, New Zealand and than when you go to Asia, where it’s a lot more spin and there’s never going to be an issue.
“It’s so hard to find where you can get any of this time back when you’re out there in the middle. For me 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.
“Getting told to just hurry up isn’t going to fix it. We’re out there playing a game and cricket’s a game of skill but there’s also a lot of tactics that go into and that can take time.”
England sit sixth on the World Test Championship table having lost 22 of 124 points gained. They have currently played 20 matches in the qualifying cycle, compared to just nine by second-placed South Africa, leaving Stokes to brand the tournament layout “utterly confusing”.