LAUGHING STOKES England camp delighted at Ben return.. LAUGHING STOCKS
..but ECB on the rack over flip-flopping
BEN STOKES will be welcomed back into the England dressing room with open arms as he restarts his now notorious career.
Team-mates and coaches in Australia were delighted at the news Stokes had been given the green light to pull on the Three Lions once more in New Zealand during the T20 triangular series.
He will join up with the squad in the country of his birth and is set to play his first game back on February 13 in Wellington before continuing into the one-day and Test portions of the tour.
Should a date be set for his court appearance to take place during the tour, he will return back to England as required, but then continue to play until his case is heard in full.
After missing 14 international matches including the Ashes, it means he will get to start doing what he does best and winning games for England.
Stokes, 26, now has the chance to make sure his contributions to English cricket are made solely on the field. He has avoided the Ashes circus he would have faced in Australia, but many Down Under will be scratching their heads at why he wasn’t available long before now.
It is a circus Stokes (main photo) wanted to front up to, even going as far as to putting himself on a plane to Christchurch just to be close enough to get involved should the call come.
It never did, even though England captain Joe Root (inset, top) wanted him here, as did coach Trevor Bayliss. Had he been available, it is inconceivable England would have surrendered the Ashes quite so meekly.
Captain and coach were denied by an ECB hierarchy, under chairman Colin Graves (inset, bottom), who would make you believe they were acting in the best interests of the game and held selection for the national team to some sort of higher moral code. But it turns out it was nothing of the sort.
In a statement the ECB said: “Following a full Board discussion, in which all considerations were taken into account, the ECB Board has agreed Ben Stokes should now be considered for England selection.
“Given the CPS 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 it would not be fair, reasonable or proportionate for Ben Stokes to remain unavailable for a further indeterminate period.”
It remains to be seen what sort of performance Stokes will produce next month. But post-Bristol the landscape has changed for him forever and, like the other players, he will be under curfew. For the first time in his senior England career.