Adequate use of technology allowed Ben Stokes to resume his innings in St. Lucia after the all-rounder was wrongly considered out on Day 1.
The left-hand batsman, who was 52* at the time, got caught and bowled by Alzarri Joseph as he tried to pull that short ball in the 70th over. But replays later confirmed that he is not out because the bowler had overstepped.
However, Stokes was back in the dressing room when the replay was shown, with Jonny Bairstow already on the field, before umpire Rod Tucker finally signaled a no-ball after consulting the matter with third umpire Chris Gaffaney.
Stokes is fortunate that this incident took place beyond April 2017, when MCC redefined Law 31.7, which governs the status of batsmen "leaving the wicket under a misapprehension".
This law now reads:- "An umpire shall intervene if satisfied that a batsman, not having been given out, has left the wicket under a misapprehension of being out. The umpire intervening shall call and signal Dead ball to prevent any further action by the fielding side and shall recall the batsman."
"A batsman may be recalled at any time up to the instant when the ball comes into play for the next delivery unless it is the final wicket of the innings, in which case it should be up to the instant when the umpires leave the field."
Stokes remained 62* at the end of the day having stretched an invaluable 124-run stand with Jos Buttler to help England finish, 231/4.
"Thank God for technology. I've never been in the changing room and called out to bat again, that is a first for me and it's probably something that they need to get control of," he said on Saturday, "I don't think in international cricket you should be walking off and being in the changing rooms and then being back out there two minutes later."
"I was just sat in my chair with my pads on and then I thought someone had got out because of all the shouting, but then the shout was 'no-ball and you're in' so just bizarre. I just had to get myself back into the right frame of mind out there. I had to try and let it go and make sure I was not out at the end of the day."
(Inputs from CricketNext)
