Ben Stokes Responds to ICC After England Penalized for Slow Over-Rate: ‘Rules Shouldn’t Be the Same in Asia Where…’

Ben Stokes didn’t hold back as he fired back at the ICC following England’s WTC points deduction for a slow over-rate in the Lord’s Test against India.

Ben Stokes Calls for Contextual Over-Rate Rules Following England’s ICC Penalty

England all-rounder Ben Stokes responded to the ICC’s penalty on England for a slow over-rate by urging the cricketing body to reconsider how over-rate rules are applied across different conditions. Speaking ahead of the Manchester Test, Stokes emphasized that the same over-rate regulations should not apply universally, especially when comparing Asian conditions to those in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia).

Ben Stokes explained that spinners typically bowl a majority of overs in Asia, allowing teams to maintain faster over-rates, whereas in SENA countries, pacers dominate, resulting in inherently slower over-rates. “You can’t have the same rules in Asia, where spin is bowling 70 percent of the overs, to have the same laws in New Zealand, Australia, England, where it’s going to be 70-80 percent seam bowling,” he said.

He acknowledged the importance of over-rates but pointed out that spinners’ overs naturally take less time than seamers’. “Common sense would think you should look at maybe changing how the over rates are timed in different continents,” Stokes added. He also noted that while maintaining a good over-rate is important, teams won’t sacrifice the competitive nature of the game simply to speed up the pace of play.

Earlier, former England captain Michael Vaughan criticized the ICC for penalizing England while letting India off despite both teams being slow over-rate offenders, calling for consistent application of penalties.

England found guilty of breaching Code of Conduct

Following the conclusion of the Lord’s Test, the ICC officially confirmed sanctions on England for a slow over-rate. Ben Stokes had accepted the charge, so no formal hearing was required.

The ICC release stated that on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, third umpire Ahsan Raza, and fourth umpire Graham Lloyd had all leveled the charge. Match referee Richie Richardson imposed the penalty after England fell two overs short of their target, accounting for time allowances. Per Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct, players are fined 5% of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl within the allotted time.

Ben Stokes defended England’s slow over-rate during the Lord’s Test, citing injury to their lone frontline spinner, Shoaib Bashir, as a significant factor. “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,” he explained.

He added, “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.”

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