ENGLAND ALLROUNDER BEN STOKES TO MISS NEXT INDIA TEST
LONDON: Ben Stokes was again omitted as England named an unchanged 13-man squad on Monday for the third Test against India at Trent Bridge starting on Saturday.
A victory in the third Test would see them clinch the fivematch series. Stokes’s ongoing trial on a charge of affray in Bristol forced England to keep him out of the second Test at Lord’s as they thrashed India by an innings and 159 runs.
However, a brief statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said they would review Stokes’s position following the conclusion of the trial, which is expected to end before the third Test starts.
“The ECB will make an assessment of Ben Stokes’s availability after the trial in Bristol has concluded,” the statement said.
The absence of Stokes hasn’t affected England’s fortunes though. “Ben is a huge part of this squad, so it’s a miss him not being here this week. But it created an opportunity for Chris to come in and perform, and boy, he didn’t disappoint, did he?,” captain Joe Root had said on Sunday.
England coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted he will have no say in when Ben Stokes will next be available due to his trial.
HALES IN THE DOCK TOO
Stokes’s trial on Monday engulfed cricketer Alex Hales too after the jury was asked to consider if injuries allegedly caused by the cricketer during a fracas in Bristol could have been caused by his international teammate.
Stokes’s counsel, Gordon Cole QC, questioned whether the England all-rounder was being treated differently because of his high profile. “Is this man being focussed on because of who he is?,” he asked the jury. Hales had not been arrested or charged.
“You will see Mr Hales on one occasion appearing to kick. So when the prosecution seeks to hang all the blame at Ben Stokes’s door by saying he rendered people unconscious, just look at what happened,” Cole told the jury.
“Think about kicks and stamps. There is no evidence before you and I am not suggesting for one minute that you should guess, but you can infer from what you know of the injuries that were sustained.”