The International Cricket Council (ICC) has informed the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over Ben Stokes‘ public announcement of his retirement from international cricket during the third Test match at Trent Bridge against New Zealand.
On the fourth day of the game, the former England captain’s decision was revealed. Stokes announced his retirement to his teammates in a recorded dressing room speech prior to the start of play on Sunday. Shortly before the tea break, the video was uploaded on social media and distributed to broadcasters.
The ICC, however, has claimed that releasing the video during the game violated its basic requirements for Players’ and Match Officials’ Areas (PMOA).
National cricket boards are required to make sure that “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” (Article 2.2.11 of the PMOA regulations).
The ICC claimed in a letter written on Saturday that the ECB had broken this rule by filming and airing the audio and footage of Stokes’ dressing-room address before to the end of the Test. The governing body added that it had already informed the ECB that any video taken inside the PMOA could not contain audio or be made public until after the game was concluded.
Speaking at the end of the fourth day of play, Ben Stokes clarified that the ECB and his representatives had decided on the announcement’s timing.
Ben Stokes was in the middle of a bowling spell when the news broke, and he dismissed New Zealand’s Zak Foulkes with his very next delivery after it was made public.
In an attempt to bolster anti-corruption procedures in international cricket, the ICC established the PMOA minimum criteria. The ICC and the ECB have not made any public remarks on the issue. The ICC’s letter was written the day before ECB chair Richard Thompson met with ICC chairman Jay Shah at the Women’s T20 World Cup final at Lord’s. The governing body’s letter has not yet received a formal response from the ECB.
