Former England Test captain Ben Stokes has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding his decision to announce his retirement mid-way through the ENG vs NZ 3rd Test. On Wednesday, reports claimed that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had sent a letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), informing the board that the players’ and match officials’ areas (PMOA) rules had been breached as the video of Stokes announcing his decision to retire to his teammates in the dressing room was uploaded on social media in between the match. The all-rounder’s abrupt decision to retire comes after his involvement in multiple controversies over the last six months.
Stokes responds to ICC charges
Taking to social media platform X, Stokes reacted to a report on the ICC accusing the ECB of breaching the anti-corrruption rules. The former England skipper penned a two-word response, “Sack him’, a seemingly savage dig aimed at the ICC and the ECB. The ECB released a video of Stokes informing his teammates about his decision at the start of the day’s play at Trent Bridge. However, in doing so, the ECB breached the PMOA rules.
At 3:25 PM local time on June 28, the penultimate day of the Nottingham Test between England and New Zealand, Stokes announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. The retirement was orchestrated by Stokes and his long-term agent Neil Fairbrother.
The PMOA rules state that any footage recorded in the dressing room shouldn’t contain audio or be released before the end of the ongoing match.
Article 2.2.11 of the PMOA rules states that teams should ‘ensure that there are no fixed or temporary video cameras or other recording equipment set up within any dressing room used by the teams for the purposes of broadcasting video or audio footage.’
The ECB is reportedly yet to respond to the ICC on the matter. However, it remains to be seen what action will be taken by the ECB, given that Stokes has already retired and there remains very little scope of penalizing him.
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