Stokes doesn’t come out of it guilty but he doesn’t come out of it well . . .
England’s swashbuckling now Jack the Lad is back, only he’s nobody’s idea of a captain
If Ben StokeS is fit and available, Ben Stokes plays. that is the view of england coach trevor Bayliss. no doubt it is the view of a majority of england followers, too. they want Stokes back for his country against India on Saturday.
So let us just, for a moment, consider how Stokes will be received at trent Bridge. He will be given a hero’s welcome. He will be cheered to the rafters, roared in as he bowls. He will be celebrated and lionised, will feel vindicated in his sense of victimhood, will be indulged as the injured party, now returned to his rightful place at the heart of england’s cricket team.
So the eCB need to tread carefully. they already appear to have acted with undue haste, announcing Stokes’s return to england’s ranks little more than an hour after he had been cleared of affray in Bristol Crown Court.
now they need to consider whether they wish to host and endorse what will become a public celebration of the man as much as the athlete. fans love a rogue, as long as it is their rogue. they want Australia players banned for life for ball tampering, but Stokes can beat a guy senseless in a brawl — and that happened, whether guilty of the offence of affray or not — and he comes back as Big Bad Ben; works hard, plays hard, punches hard, too.
With plenty of ale inside them after tea on Saturday, the bond between Stokes and the most vocal elements of his public will be stronger than ever. Do the eCB wish to be party to this, particularly when the evidence against Stokes, and the absence of professionalism, is so damning, despite the jury’s verdict? Y
ESTERDAY, QUESTIONS were being asked about the Crown Prosecution Service decision to charge with affray. It is an offence with very specific criteria needed to record a guilty verdict. the jurors were required to ask themselves four questions, and needed to answer ‘yes’ each time if Stokes was to be found guilty.
the final one appears key: ‘ Was the conduct of all of them (Stokes and ryan Ali, also charged with affray), taken together, such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety?’
In other words, did Stokes and Ali frighten the general public, whether bystanders or passers-by? this is likely to be where the Crown case faltered.
the fight happened in the small hours on a largely deserted street; a policeman who intervened was not physically threatened; two people nearby continued searching for a taxi, untroubled. Who was around to scare? It was clear the prosecution was in turmoil when, shortly before the trial started, an attempt was made to charge Stokes with actual bodily harm.
this leaves the eCB in an invidious position. Stokes has been found not guilty, but the footage that brought the case to court remains. Unquestionably, that is Stokes, on film, punching a man to the ground. Unquestionably, that is Stokes, on film, continuing to behave aggressively when it is clear the fight is won. Unquestionably, that is Stokes, in court, admitting the events came at the end of a heavy drinking session following england duty.
He doesn’t come out of it well; he just doesn’t come out of it guilty.
the eCB have selected him for the third test against India because they fear to do otherwise would be restraint of trade. there is a cricket discipline commission hearing into the behaviour of Stokes and his friend Alex Hales, but it is planning to sit within weeks, not days, as if the conclusion of the case was a surprise. By the time he appears before them, there is every chance India’s tour will be over. Convenient, that.
equally, it is very possible that when the commission convenes, they may decide Stokes has already served his punishment for unsportsmanlike behaviour, or bringing the game into disrepute. He has lost the vice- captaincy of his country, he missed the Ashes tour and other international commitments.
there has been huge reputational damage, no matter the jury’s verdict or the testimony of the gay couple he claimed to be protecting from assault. their testimony would carry greater resonance had they told it in court, rather than to a succession of media outlets, by the way.
Stokes might be cleared but, professionally, his life has changed. for a start, it is hard to imagine he can ever captain his country after this, and that was clearly an ambition.
on these pages last year, he spoke of missing out to Joe root and a sartorial error he made when asked to London for an interview. Against the advice of his wife Clare, he dressed casually for his meeting with Andrew Strauss and James Whitaker, only to be confronted with two men in suits who asked what happened to his collar and tie.
next time, Stokes said, he would wear his england jacket and accessorise accordingly. except it is too late. Stokes could dress formally, he could arrive like James Bond at the casino: he will no longer be considered captaincy material.
Lager, vodkas, Jagerbombs — Stokes’s consumption on that night in Bristol was almost as lengthy as the establishment’s drinks menu. After the problems on the most recent Ashes tour, the eCB have to address what is perceived as an unhealthy drinking culture in the england team, and the revelations from the Crown Court do not sit easily with that.
Stokes is a great player for england, but the eCB want more than raw ability from the team’s captain. they want leadership and responsibility that was not in evidence 11 months ago.
the vice-captaincy, too, is in the past. Stokes is no longer a sprained thumb from being handed root’s role. His job was passed to Jimmy Anderson on the Ashes tour and now Jos Buttler and, despite Stokes’s popularity with root and Bayliss, there is no prospect of a return.
Stokes may still be an important, influential presence and voice for england, but he has lost official endorsement. He has lost sponsors, too, and it will take more than fine words from his legal representative on the steps of the court before he regains status in any commercial sense.
So, this is the not guilty verdict that, in so many ways, isn’t. It doesn’t put Stokes anywhere but in that street, throwing punches; it doesn’t get him his old job back; it doesn’t deliver the future he would once have envisaged.
It does, however, allow him to play cricket once more, returning for england on Saturday, the conquering hero, the swashbuckling Jack the Lad. He must learn to enjoy it, for that may have to be as good as it gets.