Stokes found not guilty, called up to England team
LONDON: England cricket player Ben Stokes was found not guilty on Tuesday after saying during his trial he was acting in self-defence when he knocked out two men in a street fight.
At Bristol Crown Court, Stokes closed his eyes and then looked up at the conclusion of the case that cost him his role as vicecaptain of England’s national team. Stokes missed England’s Ashes tour of Australia because of the incident, but he was still the most expensive overseas recruit in the annual player auction for the IPL Twenty20 competition this year when the Rajasthan Royals paid $1.95 million.
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The past 11 months have served to highlight to Ben how highly he values his position as an England representative, in terms of privilege that role entails and responsibilities that accompany it.
PAUL LUNT, Stokes’ lawyer
STOKES INCLUDED
Stokes will join up with the national team for the third Test against India, which starts Saturday, the England and Wales Cricket Board said. The England team management now face a selection headache, as his replacement Chris Woakes had scored a maiden Test hundred at Lord’s.
Meanwhile, the ECB will set up a Cricket Discipline Commission that will take stock of Stokes’ involvement in this physical altercation outside a Bristol pub last year. He, along with teammate Alex Hales, could yet be fined and suspended, however it will be some time before that conclusion can be reached.
UNANIMOUS VERDICT
The prosecutors had wanted to charge Stokes with two counts of assault over the fracas near a nightclub last year in the southwest English city. But the judge would only allow him to stand trial on another charge which meant the jury had to be satisfied Stokes’s fight with two men endangered people nearby. Stokes was cleared in a unanimous verdict. During a night out with England teammates after a match against the West Indies last September, Stokes had at least 10 drinks in the hours before the fight unfolded.
VAUGHAN DEFENDS
Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that Stokes should be welcomed back into the Test team. “I think the fact he missed the whole of the Winter in Australia is punishment enough for Ben Stokes,” tweeted Vaughan.
Stokes’s England team-mate Jonny Bairstow, one of several players who were out with Stokes earlier that evening, said it was great news on both a personal and sporting front. “I am really happy,” he told Sky Sports.