'Sack him' — Ben Stokes' cheeky dig at ICC after ECB's dressing room rule breach

The former England captain and the premier all-rounder, Ben Stokes, who announced his international retirement after the end of the third Test match against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, appears to have made light of the International Cricket Council (ICC) contacting the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over a potential rule breach. 

A video of Stokes’ farewell address in the dressing room of the England team before the entire team ahead of the fourth day’s play of the third Test has drawn attention from the ICC, following the potential breach of filming regulations.

What did Ben Stokes say? The two-word reply that went viral

The Press Association has reported that the ECB has received an official communication from the ICC for the video that was published showing the all-rounder informing his team-mates of his decision to retire on the fourth morning of the series decider, which the home side went on to lose by a massive margin.

“Sack him” were the words of Ben Stokes, reacting to the social media on the story as the former captain made the cheeky reply to show how the ICC or the ECB won’t be able to sanction him given that he has already announced his international retirement.  

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Stokes, who missed the second Test match of the three-match series against the Kiwis due to being suspended for the heated argument with a few people in the pub, became only the second player after Jacques Kallis to score more than 7000 runs and pick 250 wickets in the red-ball format of the game.

The rule breach: How ECB's retirement video broke ICC's PMOA regulations

For international matches, article 2.2.11 of the standards says that the national must give assurance that “there are 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.”

An additional guideline suggests any kind of video footage should feature no audio and be for a maximum of only two minutes. It has been reported that the board wants to respond in 14 days.

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The video was released just before the tea break on the fourth day as Stokes followed it up with a wicket on the very first ball after the announcement, with the crowd cheering heavily after learning of the retirement news as he began the over.

England will now need to name a replacement for the all-rounder, besides naming their new captain before their next Test series, beginning on August 19 against Pakistan at Headingley.