Suspended Stokes likely to miss Ashes
England cricket star to be interviewed again by police as they prepare to question Hales over ‘kick’
Ben Stokes is likely to miss the Ashes tour after police said they wanted to re-interview him following the emergence of a video allegedly showing him punching a man to the ground. The England vice-captain’s team-mate Alex Hales will also be questioned after the video appeared to show him kicking a man on the ground in the fracas in Bristol last weekend. Both cricketers have been suspended until further notice.
ENGLAND star all-rounder Ben Stokes is likely to miss the Ashes series after police said they wanted to re-interview him following the emergence of a video allegedly showing him punching a man to the ground.
Fellow England cricketer Alex Hales will also be questioned by police after the video appeared to show him kicking a man on the ground.
A fresh row surrounded the cricketer last night after footage emerged showing a drunk man, thought to be Stokes, mocking the disabled son of Katie Price, the glamour model. Ms Price’s son Harvey, 15, is blind and autistic. The glamour model has reportedly told friends she was furious about the footage, calling Stokes “disgusting”.
The footage, which cruelly mimics Harvey’s appearance on ITV’S Loose Women last year, appeared on social media yesterday.
A friend of Ms Price told The Sun: “He [Harvey] doesn’t deserve this, and especially not from a man who is in the public eye who should be setting an example to other people.”
Both Stokes and Hales have been suspended by the England management board until further notice, following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning. It means he is unlikely to feature in the Ashes series, starting next month.
The 26-year-old was arrested following the fight, which left one 27-year-old man requiring hospital treatment for a facial injury.
Hales was initially spoken to by police as a witness. But sources said he would now be questioned under caution, after a video published by The Sun appeared to show a man, believed to be Hales, apparently kicking someone in the head as he lay on the ground. Stokes, who was released under police investigation on Monday, will also be re-interviewed about his part in the alleged attack. The incident took place outside the Mbargo nightclub at 2.35am.
Sources suggested trouble had flared when Stokes intervened in a homophobic row. A barman at the nearby Steinbeck & Shaw pub claimed he and a group of friends had been confronted by some men in nearby Park Street. He said: “This group of lads approached us. There were five or six of them and they were making comments about our clothes.” Sources said Avon and Somerset Police were treating the incident as affray and would be speaking to the other men involved, one of whom appeared to be wielding a bottle. The footage appears to show a man, believed to be Stokes, knocking the bottle from the man’s hand and grappling with him on the pavement, before punching one man and slapping another. Stokes, who fractured his hand during the incident, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm.
A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board said: “Ben Stokes and Alex Hales will not be considered for selection for England international matches until further notice. Each remains on full pay pending further ECB investigation and the ongoing police investigation into an incident in Bristol in the early hours of Monday.”
Stokes was named in the Ashes squad on Wednesday as England’s vice-captain but both his trip to Australia and his job as Joe Root’s deputy are on the line.
It is thought the footage was filmed by a student on his phone from his flat overlooking the scene. He had reportedly been disturbed by the sound of raised voices and swearing at 2.30am. Sport: Pages 1-4
‘Ben Stokes and Alex Hales will not be considered for selection for international matches until further notice’
It’s hard to be a saint in the city, sang Bruce Springsteen, and you won’t find many sportsmen polishing their haloes either. While we venerate the achievements of ludic performers in their highest moments – Citius, Altius, Fortius – sport also casts a pitiless eye upon the frailties of those who, for all their gifts, remain stubbornly human.
The higher they climb, the more human they are. Bernard Manning, the robust comedian, enjoyed having fun at the expense of Sir Matt Busby, the manager of Manchester United, who was perceived to be only slightly lower than the angels, yet who always seemed to get his way, particularly if there was money to be made.
We should not be surprised to learn, therefore, that Ben Stokes is in the doghouse. Again.
His latest escapade, snapped outside a Bristol nightclub at 2.35am on Monday, came as an unpleasant reminder that the vice-captain of the national team is not a modern-day successor to those gentle knights of the greensward, Jack Hobbs and Leonard Hutton. It confirmed many in their view that his invitation to tour Australia this winter should be rescinded at once. By suspending Stokes yesterday from selection the England Cricket Board (ECB) acted swiftly, but many will think they should have gone further.
Those inclined to give him one more final warning should reflect on the conduct of a man who, at
26, is no sophomore. Stokes, who spent Monday night in custody, has since apologised to the ECB for his behaviour, only two months after he was rebuked for staying out late during the Manchester Test match against South Africa. But his apology is of no more use than the ECB’S public comment that it would await the outcome of a police inquiry that may result in Stokes being charged with causing actual bodily harm.
A governing body that took its responsibilities seriously would have stood the player down from the tour of Australia the moment those images were made public (whatever the rights and wrongs of this case – and highprofile sportsmen can be vulnerable in public places).
The law will take its course. But this is a time for judgment, which has nothing to do with criminal law. It matters not a jot that England would be weaker going to Australia without a cricketer of such talent. Some things, as even the dullest of dullards at the ECB may understand, are more important than winning Test matches.
Andrew Strauss, the board’s director of cricket, has an easy task. He should make it plain that, if players behave as badly, they cannot expect to be selected for England. Playing Test cricket is not a right, however good you are. It is a privilege that can be withdrawn at any time.
Stokes has not lacked sound advice. His agent, Neil Fairbrother, the former Lancashire and England batsman, has made it plain night and day that with money and fame come responsibilities. When you are in the public eye as a match-winning international cricketer you are a long way from Chester-le-street.
Most people realise that leading sportsmen do not necessarily make suitable “role models”. We do not admire them for their rectitude. We like a bit of dog. But we expect those who play in our name to observe certain standards of behaviour.
According to those who know him, Stokes is a decent chap who means well. Although why he, and others, should have been out to celebrate a one-day victory against a poor West Indies team is perhaps one more thing the ECB should investigate. By doing so they put themselves among the countless thousands of yobs who tarnish our towns and make urban life such a misery. Too many pavements are covered with vomit and prostrate or abusive louts. But these louts are not international sportsmen. Stokes is – though he seems unaware of the duties his status brings. It is time he was reminded of them, in a way he won’t forget.
In some ways the game’s governors have got what they deserve. By trying to promote the game as “relevant” to a younger we-want-it-now audience which likes to drink all day, cricket has changed in character. Stokes has been presented as a personality, and if they go unchecked, personalities can devour themselves.
So let’s be having you, Mr Strauss. Do the decent thing, in the name of cricket, and tell the world beyond: there are some games we will not play.