Thankfully, as Ben Stokes put it, he did not take his pants off after making his way into the dressing room in what he thought was a normal mode of dismissal. He was clearly unaware of the new rules into effect since January 2017 and the fact that West Indian fast bowler Alzarri Joseph had overstepped.


In an absolute bizarre turn of events in the final session of the third Test match between England and West Indies at the Darren Sammy International Stadium in St. Lucia, Ben Stokes was recalled to bat from the dressing room after the umpires found out that Joseph’s delivery which got Stokes was actually a no ball.


'It's a first for me and it's probably something they need to get control of. It's a good job I didn't take my pants off. It was just a bizarre bit of cricket all around,” Stokes said at the close of play.


Stokes had already left the field after pulling it straight back to Alzarri Joseph in the 70th over of the England innings on Day 1 when replays prompted the umpires to go upstairs with a possible case of overstepping. The third umpire confirmed, Joseph had indeed overstepped and Stokes was called back despite Johnny Bairstow taking his place in the middle.






Notably, Stokes would have remained out had the incident took place before January 2017. It was then MCC defined Law 31.7, which governs the status of batsmen "leaving the wicket under a misapprehension".


The law now reads: "An umpire shall intervene if satisfied that a batsman, not having been given out, has left the wicket under a misapprehension of being out. The umpire intervening shall call and signal Dead ball to prevent any further action by the fielding side and shall recall the batsman.


"A batsman may be recalled at any time up to the instant when the ball comes into play for the next delivery unless it is the final wicket of the innings, in which case it should be up to the instant when the umpires leave the field."


Stokes finished the day on 62 not out, as he and his fifth-wicket partner, Jos Buttler, batted through to the close without further alarm in their stand of 124 – England’s biggest partnership of the Test series. England were 230 for 4 after being sent in to bat.


"I tried to get myself back in that same frame of mind I was when me and Jos were going well out there," he added. "There was a lot of cheering going on so I had to blank that out and start again."


For the West Indies, this was the 18th occasion in the last two years when a dismissal was overturned because of a no-ball.