As Stokes walked off the field upon his dismissal to Anrich Nortje during England’s first innings, he was shown launching a verbal volley at a spectator not captured by the television camera. The all-rounder was heard shouting: “come and say that to me outside the ground you f***ing four-eyed c***.” While what prompted the outburst wasn’t heard on-air, it is reported that the spectator in question told Stokes he looked like the singer Ed Sheeran.

He has escaped the more serious charge of breaching article 2.17, which covers the “threat of assault on another player, player support personnel, umpire or match referee or any other person (including a spectator) during an international match”. Had Stokes been found guilty of this level three offence, he would have been handed five or six demerit points and suffered a suspension of either one Test or two limited-overs matches.