Ben Stokes, after sharing his frustration with the ICC as England and New Zealand were docked three World Test Championship (WTC) points each and fined 15% of their match fees for slow over-rate in the first Test in Christchurch.
New Zealand now faces a more difficult task in qualifying for the WTC final next year, having dropped from fourth to fifth place in the table. England is sixth in the WTC, thanks in part to over-rate fines that have resulted in 22 points forfeited in the 2023-25 cycle, and they have lost 19 of the 28 points acquired during the 2023 Ashes on identical reasons.
After the first Test, Stokes was observed having a lengthy talk with match referee David Boon, who assessed the sanctions. Stokes used a media opportunity on Wednesday at Basin Reserve to elaborate on his issues ahead of the second Test, some of which date back to the Lord's Test against Australia in 2023.
"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.
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 was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
"There's so many tactical decisions that you need to make, whether that be chatting with the bowler or field changes. 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.
The times and the rules are the same wherever you go in the world. From a player's point of view - and I'm not the only one who shares this opinion - we would like to have a lot more communication with the ICC around this,” he added.
Stokes was particularly irritated that he had expressed his opinions on the necessity for a more flexible over-rate system, particularly to account for in-game strategies, last year and had yet to hear back from the ICC.
Stokes revealed that he has not signed an over-rate chargesheet, which is paperwork from the match referee certifying a team's penalty, since Lord's as a form of protest. But he accepted the charges leveled in Christchurch by standing umpires Ahsan Raza and Rod Tucker, third umpire Adrian Holdstock, and fourth official Kim Cotton, as did New Zealand skipper Tom Latham.
"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. 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.
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. Captains have to sign over-rate sheets and fines and stuff, but I have said 'no' until I have the conversations. But they still take the fines off you anyway,” he added.
