England captain Ben Stokes has sent a clear message to India ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford. He confirmed that England will stand firm in any on-field confrontations, adding extra intensity to the already heated series.
“It’s a massive series and heat will be shown. Have England been nice? Potentially. We won’t purposely start anything, but we won’t take any backward step,” Stokes remarked before the match.
With England leading the series 2-1, Stokes admitted the games have been filled with high intensity. The team welcomed the break after their victory at Lord’s. “I was in my bed for two days… felt like I was in a long-distance relationship with my family,” he joked. “It was a good win and a nice break. We’ll look to bring the same energy next week.”
England’s Team Changes for the Manchester Test
England made one change for the Manchester Test. Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson replaced the injured Shoaib Bashir. Stokes is confident that Dawson will handle the pressure, citing his solid domestic performances.
“Dawson has been performing really well. He got recalled into the team, and I’m sure there will be nerves, but he’s experienced enough to handle it,” Stokes said.
Chris Woakes also returns after a break. Stokes praised his record in England, saying, “We had a big break, a good opportunity to freshen up. Woakes has a good record here.”
Controversy Around Slow Over-Rate Penalties
The slow over-rate penalties from the Lord’s Test sparked a lot of debate. England received a two-point deduction in the WTC and a 10% fine of their match fee. Stokes voiced his concerns, calling for a review of over-rate rules in different playing conditions.
“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. 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 seam bowling,” Stokes explained.
He further pointed out the time differences in spin and seam overs, stating, “Because a spinner’s over takes less time than a seamer’s over. So common sense would think that you should look at maybe changing how the over rates are timed in different continents.”
Defending England’s Over-Rate in the Lord’s Test
Stokes defended England’s over-rate, citing several factors that contributed to the delays, including Shoaib Bashir’s injury and the heavy workload on fast bowlers. He acknowledged that maintaining a steady over-rate is challenging when key players are unavailable.
“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 rounds, getting told I’ll just quicken up, get three overs. There’s a lot that actually goes on the field. You’ve got fast bowlers bending their backs consistently,” Stokes said.
With the team playing their 15th day of cricket, fatigue had set in. “We played for five days, that was our 15th day of cricket. We obviously had an injury to Shoaib Bashir, a spinner. So we couldn’t turn to our spinner as much as we would have liked to on day five. We had to throw a seam at them for pretty much the whole day. So that’s obviously going to slow things down,” Stokes added.
Stay tuned for all the latest Sports News, follow SportsNewsTime on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram