Ben Stokes questions ICC on over-rate calculations
Wellington, Dec 4: England captain Ben Stokes has not signed an over rate sheet since the Ashes Test at Lord's last year as he is waiting to have conversations with the ICC over his concerns around the over rate calculations.
Stokes' comments on the over rate came after both England and New Zealand were fined three points each from their World Test Championships tally for maintaining slow over rate during the first Test in Christchurch.
"The most frustrating thing, from both teams' points of view, is that the game finished early, there was a result. But I think the frustration actually stems back to last year in the Ashes where it was the first time I really brought it up to the match referee and the umpires," Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"I guess the most frustrating thing is that it's always an issue depending on where you are in the world and the style of cricket that's played. There's never an over-rate issue in Asia because of how much spin is played."
Stokes had sarcastically posted emojis on social media on Tuesday after the ICC imposed the fines.
"There's so many tactical decisions that you need to make, whether that be chatting with the bowler or field changes," Stokes went on.
"As a captain, I like to change things quite a lot and the field could be completely different six balls in an over. But that's not taken into consideration. And getting told to just 'hurry up' isn't going to fix it, because we're out there playing a game."
Stokes has his reason for not signing the over rate sheet since the Ashes Test last year.
"The two conversations I've had with the match referees have actually been very good and the match referees have handled it very, very well and been very understanding from a player's point of view," Stokes said.
"But it's been over a year now since I made some comments around the over rates and still to this day we're yet to hear any response back from anyone at the ICC around that."
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
