DAVID LLOYD: Sorry Ben Stokes, however over charges are terrible. Just cease faffing round a lot!

The World Test Championship is a good idea, but I can’t get my head around it. And that’s where the problems start.

Some countries are playing a lot of Tests and some very few. If you’re in a league, surely you’ve got to play the same number of Tests and you’ve got to play each other!

They don’t and that’s why no one takes it seriously. England are sixth having played 20 Tests while Sri Lanka and South Africa — both above England — have played a combined 19. It doesn’t add up. We’re trying to make the game more appealing but it’s unnecessarily complicated.

Test cricket should be celebrated and the WTC should make every match important, but try explaining it to a newcomer. They would just walk away scratching their head. England captain Ben Stokes called it ‘utterly confusing’ and that sums it up.

I agree with Ben on the WTC, but I mildly disagree with him on the over-rate penalties which he has complained about. It is not unreasonable to bowl 90 overs in a day. There are so many silly interruptions for drinks, gloves, bats, towels and pills. They have to stop. The onus is on the players.

It’s a bugbear of mine when players start having a drink even though it’s not a drinks break, or when the non-striker walks down the wicket mid-over. The authorities have to clamp down on it and administer the laws of the game. The batter has to be ready to receive when the bowler is at the start of his run. They use a stop-clock in limited-overs cricket and maybe it’s time to have one in Tests.

Ben Stokes is not happy about England being docked World Test Championship points for their slow over rate

But his team have been consistently warned, and a deterrent needs to be in place for slow play

England won the first Test against New Zealand, but must start getting through their overs quicker

When I was an umpire, we were told by the ICC that there was no reason for a player to have a drink except in the case of extreme heat and a risk of dehydration.

There is a lackadaisical attitude to the laws and 15 per cent fines are incidental because they don’t deter a team. If you had a proper deterrent, such as suspending captains, that would have an effect.

In my day, we would bowl 18 overs an hour, but would pick two quicks, an all-rounder and two spinners come hail, rain or shine. Now we’re picking four quicks unless you’re in Asia. So consideration is needed at seam-friendly venues, as Stokes says.

But his point that we should go on until the sun sets at 10pm is ridiculous. You have to take into account fans and broadcasters. Nobody wants to be there that long.

We have to smarten up. Cricket is becoming pedestrian. It needs fixing quickly.