WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s Test captain Tom Latham on Thursday, came out in support of England’s counterpart Ben Stokes, who criticised the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the slow over-rate penalty.
The apex cricketing body on Tuesday, fined both England and New Zealand of 15 per cent of their match fees and also slapped both teams with a deduction of three crucial World Test Championship (WTC) points for maintaining a slow over-rate during the series opener in Christchurch.
The decision did not sit well with the England captain, who expressed his frustration through his Instagram story.
“Good on you ICC. Finished the game with 10 hours of play still left,” Stokes captioned his Instagram story.
Later, while speaking to the reporters, the England captain lamented the lack of communication from the ICC and urged that the rule for over-rate should be looked at.
“You totally understand why there is frustration from the fans. We’re not purposely bowling overs slower than the rules say. In the summer it doesn’t get dark until till half 10 in England. Why not just make it you bowl your overs out if the light is sufficient enough for us to be able to do that?” Stokes told reporter.
“I’m not the only one who shares the opinion that we would like to have a lot more communication with the ICC around this,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tom Latham, whose side suffered a massive dent to their WTC Final hopes due to the points deduction, rallied behind Ben Stokes, stating that bowling 15 hours an hours is challenging, especially for teams, whose bowling attacks are pace heavy.
"It's certainly a challenge to get through those 15 overs an hour if the ball's flying to the boundary a little bit more than usual," Latham said on Thursday.
"We've seen in the subcontinent where a lot of spin's used, where that isn't necessarily an issue.
"But maybe that's something that does need to be reviewed because we're certainly try our best, and no team wants to be behind in the over-rate. But it certainly is a challenge."
For the unversed, the second Test between New Zealand and England is scheduled to commence on Friday. The visitors lead the three-match series 1-0, courtesy of their commanding eight-wicket victory in the series opener.
- Ben Stokes
