England duo face disrepute charges
BEN Stokes and Alex Hales have been charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the England and Wales Cricket Board and will face a disciplinary hearing in December.
An independent Cricket Discipline Commission was tasked with leading an internal investigation into an incident involving the England pair outside a Bristol nightclub in September last year.
Stokes denied a charge of affray and was cleared following a sevenday trial at Bristol Crown Court last month.
However, the all-rounder and Hales will have to answer to two counts of breaching ECB Directive 3.3, which states: “No participant may conduct themself in a manner or do any act or omission at any time which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.”
The CDC, which has the remit to impose penalties including an unlimited fine or suspension and termination of registration, ruled the disciplinary panel hearings will be held in London on Wednesday, December 5, and Friday, December 7.
The CDC has the remit to impose penalties including an unlimited fine or suspension and termination of registration.
The ECB decided to wait until the conclusion of criminal proceedings against Stokes before commissioning an investigation into the behaviour of the all-rounder and Hales on the night in question.
Stokes was arrested and later charged following a fracas outside a nightclub. Hales was not charged.