England captain Ben Stokes slams ICC over WTC penalty: ‘One rule can’t fit all conditions’

Ben Stokes slams ICC for penalty. (Image: Reuters)

England captain Ben Stokes hit out at the International Cricket Council (ICC) for sluggish over-rate penalties during the World Test Championship (WTC) without holding back. He made these comments after England were docked two vital WTC points for maintaining a slow over-rate during the Lord's Test, which the hosts won by 22 runs against India last week. In addition to the points deduction, England were also fined 10% of their match fees.

Stokes argued that while discussing slow over-rates, the venues should be taken into account and the rules should be adapted accordingly. According to him, the regulations in SENA nations (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) and Asian conditions cannot be the same.

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The England all-rounder, who won Player of the Match for his valiant efforts with the ball during the Lord's Test, said that spinners dominate in Asian conditions, which is why overs are usually completed on time. The same cannot be said for SENA countries, where the conditions often warrant more overs from pacers—resulting in a naturally slower over-rate.

"Over rate isn't something that I worry about, but that's not saying that I purposely slow things down. I do understand the frustration around it, but I honestly think there needs to be a real hard look at how it's structured. You can't have the same rules in Asia, where spin is bowling 70 per cent of the overs, to have the same laws in New Zealand, Australia, England, where it's going to be 70-80 per cent seam bowling," said Stokes during a pre-match press conference ahead of the Manchester Test.

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"Because a spinner's over takes less time than a seamer's over. So common sense would think that you should look at maybe changing how the over rates are timed in different continents. I think as well, the over rates obviously have gone down over the course of quite a few years now. There are times in games where it's all on the line, and you won't just throw the ball to a spinner to get your overs round. You're not playing an international game where you're just trying to get your over rate back. I don't think people want to come and watch that," he added.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan had earlier questioned the ICC for penalizing England but allowing India to get away with it. According to him, both India and England should have been penalized for maintaining a slow over-rate.

The ICC confirmed the sanction against England in an official statement following the conclusion of the Lord's Test. There was no need for a formal hearing, as Stokes had already accepted the charge.

“On-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, third umpire Ahsan Raza, and fourth umpire Graham Lloyd levelled the charge,” the ICC said in its official release.

After taking time allowances into account, England were found to be two overs short of the target, and Richie Richardson of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the penalty.

Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel states that players who fail to bowl their overs in the designated time will be fined 5% of their match fee per over.

Stokes went on to defend the slow over-rate during the Lord's Test by pointing out that Shoaib Bashir, their only frontline spinner, suffered an injury during the first innings—significantly impacting their bowling options.

"I can understand it from an external point of view around the overs, I really do. But it's a very tough thing to do when I feel there's more to it than just getting rounds, getting told I'll just quicken up, get three overs. There's a lot that actually goes on the field. You've got fast bowlers bending their backs consistently. So throughout the course of a game, the time of overs is going to come down because you've just got tired bodies," Stokes said.

"We played for five days, that was our 15th day of cricket. We obviously had an injury to Shoaib Bashir, a spinner. So we couldn't turn to our spinner as much as we would have liked to on day five. So we had to throw a seam at them for pretty much the whole day. So that's obviously going to slow things down. And there are periods in the game where you do try and just slow everything down, more tactically if anything like that," he added.