No Stokes-Shakib beef despite salute repeat

He’s been fined 15 per cent of his match fee, copped another send-off salute and was part of the disastrous collapse that sealed England’s first loss to Bangladesh in Test history but Ben Stokes will seemingly depart Bangladesh in good spirits.

The fiery allrounder was instrumental for England across both the one-day international and Test legs of the tour.

Stokes was the tourists’ leading run scorer and leading wicket taker in the drawn two-Test series while he was also their most productive batsman in preceding three-match ODI series.

But after Bangladesh star Shakib al Hasan claimed his wicket in a stunning England collapse of 10-64, Stokes received a familiar salute from his Bangladeshi counterpart.

It mimicked the send-off he’d received from Marlon Samuels during England’s second Test against the West Indies in Grenada last year.

And while Stokes didn’t respond too kindly on that occasion in the Caribbean, his relationship with Shakib, fostered at the Melbourne Renegades where they played together during BBL|04, doesn’t appear to have suffered.

The pair appear to remain on good terms despite Shakib, who thanked the England and Wales Cricket Board for ensuring the tour went ahead despite security concerns, claiming the prized scalp of Stokes in three out of his four innings in the Test series.

During the preceding three-match one-day series, Shakib had been forced to play mediator in an incident involving Stokes, after Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal appeared to make contact with England’s Jonny Bairstow during the post-game handshakes.

Stokes quickly leapt to the defence of Bairstow but Shakib stepped in to diffuse the situation, which followed an earlier incident in the second ODI where England’s stand-in captain Jos Buttler angrily confronted the Bangladeshi huddle celebrating his dismissal.

Stokes copped a fine during the second Test in Mirpur for breaching the International Cricket Council’s guidelines following a heated exchange with Bangladesh batsman Sabbir Rahman on day two.

He pleaded guilty to violating Article 2.1.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel by demonstrating “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.

England captain Alastair Cook expressed his frustration at the fine, suggesting neither Stokes nor Sabbir had crossed the line during the encounter.

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"I do find it a little bit frustrating," Cook said. "Both Sabbir and Stokesy are very competitive cricketers. To me, people love it. That's what people watch.

"Sometimes I believe the umpires can get involved too quickly, and then it blows up even more. When umpires get involved it can drag it out and brings more theatre to it than you need."

England now turn their attention to their five-Test tour of India, which gets underway in Rajkot on November 9.