Stokes available for England despite charge: ECB
LONDON: Ben Stokes will now be considered for England selection again despite being charged with affray, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Wednesday.
Stokes was suspended from international duty by the ECB following his involvement in an incident outside a nightclub in September that reportedly left a man with a fractured eye socket.
As a result, the Durham allrounder missed the whole of England’s 4-0 Ashes series defeat in Australia.
Although England are currently involved in a one-day international series in Australia, the ECB said Stokes was expected to return to England duty for February’s Twenty20 matches in his native New Zealand.
Wednesday’s announcement leaves the ECB in a potentially awkward position given they banned Stokes when he had not been charged with any offence and have now made him available for England duty just two days after prosecutors brought charges against him on Monday.
But following a full board discussion, in which they said “all considerations were taken into account”, the ECB said it had been agreed that Stokes “should now be considered for England selection”.
The ECB said Stokes’ intention to contest the charge had been crucial in its decision to allow him to resume an England career that currently comprises 39 Tests, 62 one-day internationals and 21 Twenty20 internationals.
“Given the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) decision to charge him and two others with affray, confirmation of his intention to contest the charge and the potential length of time to trial, the board agreed that it would not be fair, reasonable or proportionate for Ben Stokes to remain unavailable for a further indeterminate period,” the ECB said.
The board said it “fully respects the legal process and the player’s intention to defend himself against the charge”. PRETORIA: Debutant Lungi Ngidi took six wickets as South Africa defeated India by 135 runs to claim victory in the second Test in Pretoria on Wednesday and also win the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match contest.
Seamer Ngidi, 21, recorded figures of 6-39, his best in first class cricket, as South Africa bowled out India for 151 just before lunch.
India are the top-ranked side in Test cricket according to the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings with South Africa second, though the Proteas will not be able to overhaul the subcontinent side even with a 3-0 series win.
The third Wanderers in January 24.
“It took a lot of hard work and was one of the harder Test matches in terms of what you had to put in,” South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said at the post-match presentation.
“Bowling was tough, batting was tough, but over the five days I thought we were on top most of the time.”
India resumed the final day on 35 for three chasing a victory target of 287, having been dealt a huge blow the evening before when Ngidi bagged the wicket of captain Virat Kohli (5).
Their slender hopes were dealt a further set-back when Cheteshwar Pujara (19) became the first Indian player ever to be run out twice in a Test.
Ngidi had a hand in that too as he chased the ball down to the boundary and stopped a four, with his cut-back to AB de Villiers allowing for a bullet throw to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock that saw Pujara short.
Pujara had also been run out first ball in the first innings and has now been involved in six of India’s Test starts at Johannesburg the on last eight run-outs in Tests.
It would start a procession of wickets as Parthiv Patel (19) picked out Morne Morkel on the fine leg boundary off Kagiso Rabada (347), with the big fast bowler pulling off a magnificent catch on the run.
Hardik Pandya (6) was caught by De Kock off Ngidi, before the seamer also induced an edge from Ravichandran Ashwin (3) to the wicketkeeper to leave India reeling at 87 for seven.
Rohit Sharma (47) took the attack to the bowlers before he was magnificently caught at fine leg by De Villiers off Rabada attempting a hook.
The innings wrapped up quickly after that, as Mohammed Shami (28) was caught by Morkel off Ngidi and Jasprit Bumrah spooned a catch to Vernon Philander at mid-off to hand the youngster his sixth wicket and debut match figures of 7-90.
“We thought the wicket was really flat to play on, it was quite surprising,” Kohli said. “We tried our best but South Africa were better than us in every department, especially fielding.” South Africa, first innings, 335 India, first innings, 307 South Africa, second innings, 258 India, second innings M Vijay b Rabada --------------------------------------9 L Rahul c Maharaj b Ngidi -------------------------4 C Pujara run out (De Villiers) ------------------ 19 V Kohli lbw Ngidi --------------------------------------5 P Patel c Morkel b Rabada ---------------------- 19 R Sharma c De Villiers b Rabada ------------ 47 H Pandya c De Kock b Ngidi ----------------------6 R Ashwin c De Kock b Ngidi -----------------------3 Mohammed Shami c Morkel b Ngidi ----- 28 I Sharma not out ---------------------------------------4 J Bumrah c Philander b Ngidi -------------------2 Extras (b4, w1) -----------------------------------------5 Total (all out in 50.2 overs) ------------ 151 Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-16, 3-26, 4-49, 5-65, 6-83, 7-87, 8-141, 9-145 Bowling: Philander 10-3-25-0, Rabada 143-47-3, Ngidi 12.2-3-39-6, Morkel 8-3-10-0, Maharaj 6-1-26-0