Ben Stokes recalled from dressing room: The English all-rounder was surprisingly recalled after he reached the dressing room in the third Test.
During the first day of the third Test of the ongoing England’s tour of Windies at Gros Islet, England all-rounder Ben Stokes became perhaps the first batsman ever to be recalled from the dressing room to resume batting after a change in umpire’s decision.
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The situations was as novel and confusing as it sounds but thankfully justice was served eventually without any objection or furore on the same. What came to Stokes’s rescue was one of the latest updates in ICC rules.
It all happened on the last delivery of the 70th over when Stokes’ mis-timed pull was easily caught by Windies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph off his own bowling. Stokes, who had just completed his 17th Test half-century, walked to the dressing room after the catch was taken.
Frequent replays of the same highlighted the fact that Joseph had overstepped which called for the delivery to be a no-ball. By the time all of this happened, Stokes had reached the dressing room and new batsmn Jonny Bairstow was walking in to bat.
It was at this point in time that the umpires decided to call Stokes back on the ground. While the same would have been impossible during the old rules, a latest addition in them allows the umpires to call back a batsman who has “left the wicket under a misapprehension”.
“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,” the law 31.7 reads.
It was an unbeaten 124-run partnership between Jos Buttler (67) and Stokes (62) which saw the visitors through to the stumps. Joining the crease at 107-4, the pair made sure that England don’t buckle down under pressure.
In an interview after the day’s play, Stokes admitted that it was the first time when he saw something like this happening. Being at odds with this approach, Stokes ended up thanking the 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. 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. Thank God for technology,” Stokes was quoted as saying.
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