Stokes to miss NZ T20

Ben Stokes has confirmed he will appear in court on the same day he was expected to play for England in New Zealand.

Stokes and two other men, Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali, have been called to appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on February 13 to answer charges of affray following an incident in Bristol in the early hours of September 25.

England are due to play New Zealand in a Twenty20 match in Wellington on February 13, the first game for which Stokes was available for selection after the England and Wales Cricket Board lifted his suspension on Wednesday.

However, Stokes confirmed he would have to appear in court on that day. Initially his defence team believed he would not have to appear in person.

‘‘In the circumstances I have decided that it would not be right to join my team-mates until after attending court,’’ he wrote on Twitter.

Stokes could fly out immediately after his hearing for the oneday series against New Zealand, which starts on February 25, but that will be based on the proviso that he does not have another court appearance in that time and they are beginning to fear he will not be available until the Test series starts in March.

Before his arrest last year, Stokes was the most valuable player across all three formats. He will make a rapid return to the test team, who are struggling for consistency, but in one-day cricket England are strong and letting him wait for a return would also send a message that he cannot take his international place for granted.

The next decision for Bayliss is whether to retain Stokes as test vice-captain. He still faces professional negligence charges from the ECB’s cricket discipline commission. Stokes hurt his hand in the incident and that injury would have put him out of England’s warm-up games in Australia before the first Ashes test had he been able to travel, enough in itself to warrant being sacked as vicecaptain. –