Ben Stokes criticizes ICC: ‘This is not how international cricket should be’ | Cricket

England won the recently concluded Test series 3-0 against Pakistan. Ben Stokes and Co dominated proceedings, blowing the hosts away with their new philosophy that goes by the name of Bazball. Despite the change in approach, England skipper Ben Stokes feels red-ball cricket is under threat due to the growing popularity of the shorter format.

Well, he is not entirely wrong as the dynamics of cricket have been greatly altered with the rise of franchise leagues. Apart from established leagues like Indian Premier League (IPL) and Big Bash, two news franchise leagues will be introduced next year. The South African T20 league starting in January is one of them, with various IPL stakeholders forming various teams to participate in the tournament.

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In addition to this, cricket has even been shortened with several well-known players participating in T10 leagues, which is a 10-over side competition.

Stokes shares his views on the same in a conversation with former England cricketer Ian Botham on the BBC: “Test cricket has been talked about in a way that I don’t like. It’s losing the attention of the fans with all the new formats and franchises. We understand that there are so many opportunities for players outside of in Test cricket. But for me it’s so important to the game. I love playing Test cricket and I thought we could do something different.

“Taking the score out of the mindset is a great starting point. Focusing on making every day entertaining. Not letting people know what’s going on. If people are excited about what they’re going to watch, you’ve already won before the ball is bowled.”

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While cricket is on the rise with more franchises competing, but it has adversely affected the schedules, which Stokes further highlighted during the interaction.

Citing the example of the ODI series between England and Australia immediately after the T20 World Cup, Stokes added: “Schedules don’t get the attention they should. A good example is England’s one-day series against Australia after the T20 World Cup. It was a three-game blitz there.. It made sense that someone would schedule a series that meant nothing.

“Some people say ‘you’re playing for England, that should be enough’. But there’s a lot more to consider. You want international cricket to be at the highest level. But we’ve seen a lot of different teams and players being selected. have been rested and international cricket shouldn’t go like that.”

Chennai Super Kings bought Stokes for a huge price 16.25 crore in the IPL 2023 mini-auction in Kochi on Friday.