Ben Stokes has called out the International Cricket Council (ICC) for taking a look at how the slow over rate fines are structured. He argued that over rates come down in fast-bowling dominant nations and can remain in control in the Asian conditions, as the subcontinent conditions are more spin-friendly and spinners bowl more.
England were docked two World Test Championship points for their slow-over rate in the third Test against India. While they won the Test by 22 runs, the hosts were docked two WTC points, which reduced their tally to 22 in the Test Championship.
Stokes did not sign the over-rate related paperwork and gave his view on the slow over-rate rule. "I'm not signing the form, no. 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," Stokes said in the pre-match press conference ahead of the Lord's.
"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 of seam bowled, because the spinner's over takes less time than the seamer's over. Common sense would think that you should look at changing how the over-rates are timed in different continents," Stokes reasoned.
Stokes reasoned that there are times when there is a need to slow the game down, and that also impacts the over rate. "I think also the over rates obviously have gone down over the course of quite a few years now. I wonder if scoring rates have anything to do with that as well. The ball's getting hit to the boundary more often. It's obviously going to take a lot longer.
"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 round, getting told, 'Oh, just quicken up. Get through your overs.’
"There's a lot that actually goes on out on the field. You've got fast bowlers bending their back consistently. Throughout the course of a game, the time of overs is going to come down. You've just got tired bodies. We played for five days. That was our 15th day of cricket."
