WELLINGTON: New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham on Thursday spoke out in support of England counterpart Ben Stokes, who criticized the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the excessively slow penalty.
Cricket’s governing body on Tuesday fined England and New Zealand 15 percent of their match fees and also slapped both teams with a deduction of three crucial World Test Championship (WTC) points for maintain a slow overrun rate during the series opener in Christchurch.
The decision did not sit well with the England captain, who expressed his frustration via his Instagram story.
“Good for you, ICC. I finished the game with 10 hours left to play,” Stokes captioned his Instagram story.
Later, speaking to reporters, the England captain lamented the lack of communication from the ICC and called for the excessive fee rule to be looked at.
“You completely understand why there is frustration from fans. We are not purposely bowling slower than the rules say. In summer, it doesn’t get dark until 10:30 in England. Why not have you throw it away if the light is enough for us to do so? Stokes told the reporter.
“I am not the only one who shares the view that we would like to have much more communication with the ICC on this matter,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tom Latham, whose team took a huge hit to their WTC final hopes due to points deduction, backed Ben Stokes, stating that 15 hour bowling is a challenge, especially for teams, whose bowling attacks are intense.
“It is certainly a challenge to get through those 15 overs per hour if the ball is flying towards the boundary a little more than normal,” Latham said on Thursday.
“We saw in the subcontinent where a lot of spin is used, where that is not necessarily a problem.
“But maybe that’s something that needs to be reviewed because we’re certainly doing our best and no team wants to fall behind at the excessive rate. But it’s certainly a challenge.”
For the unversed, the second Test between New Zealand and England is scheduled to begin on Friday. The visitors lead the three-match series 1-0 thanks to their eight-wicket victory in the series opener.
