Stokes back with England - but he will not play yet
ALL-ROUNDER BEN LINKS UP WITH SQUAD
BEN Stokes’ five-month exile from England duty will end today when he rejoins the national side in New Zealand.
Stokes pleaded not guilty to a charge of affray at Bristol Magistrates Court on Tuesday and, after establishing he did not need to appear at the next hearing on March 12, boarded a flight the following day.
Having departed Heathrow and travelled via Abu Dhabi and Melbourne, Stokes was due to land in Auckland in the early hours of this morning before being driven the 70 miles to Hamilton, where the Twenty20 squad is based.
His arrival at the team hotel will mark a formal reintroduction to the set-up, having last been involved in the one-day victory over the West Indies on September 24.
A night out with fellow players after that match culminated in an altercation outside a nightclub, leading to a lengthy police investigation during which he was deemed unavailable for selection.
Stokes went on to miss the entire 4-0 Ashes defeat, the subsequent ODI campaign and the ongoing T20 tri-series.
England will already have trained by the time he touches down, though the gruelling nature of his journey means he would not have been expected to take part today anyway.
The 26-year-old could net with the team tomorrow - but England have made it clear there is no prospect of him featuring at Seddon Park against New Zealand 24 hours later.
If the Black Caps defeat Australia in Auckland, England’s chances of making the final would be over, making their final triangular match a dead rubber and theoretically providing a tempting occasion to restore Stokes to the field.
Yet they are in no rush to press him into action before he has proved his match sharpness and may prefer in those circumstances to blood the uncapped Sam Curran, who has been part of the touring squad over the past two weeks.
Instead, Stokes’ focus will be on pushing for selection for the first ODI, also at Hamilton, on February 25.
Head coach Trevor Bayliss has indicated he would need to see the player up close before making a final decision on his readiness.
He said: “Having a chat around practice you will probably be able to see whether he is hitting them well in the nets, how it is coming out with his bowling.
“It is about making a judgement call at some stage.
“In the past Ben has been out with injuries and come back sooner than we thought.
“That is the type of character he is and it does not take him long at all to get back up to speed.
“He has been indoors doing plenty in the last month or two so it is not as if he hass been doing nothing – it will just be a case of getting him on turf wickets and a few outdoor nets.
Asked if there were any concerns about the crowd reaction on his return Bayliss added: “He would probably cop some anyway, even if he had not been out for the last few months. It is par for the course.
“Most of the crowds wherever you go around the world target an opposition player.”