Ben Stokes and Alex Hales to find out if they face further punishment over fight
After 14 months of what has at times felt like glacial progress, English cricket is approaching closure over Ben Stokes, Alex Hales and the street fight in Bristol that led to the former being removed as Test vice-captain and stood down from an Ashes tour.
A two-day hearing by the cricket discipline commission gets under way behind closed doors in London on Wednesday, with Stokes and Hales having both been charged with two counts of bringing the game into disrepute by the England and Wales Cricket Board following the incident on 25 September 2017.
Though Stokes was found not guilty of affray by a jury at Bristol crown court in August – and Hales was not charged at all – the pair still face possible cricketing sanctions, having become embroiled in the early-hours incident near the Mbargo nightclub in Clifton while the England one-day squad was celebrating a victory over West Indies.
A three-strong CDC panel, which is funded by the ECB but is meant to be independent in its deliberations, must decide whether the pair contravened ECB directive 3.3. It 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.”
A verdict is expected on Friday afternoon – the second day of the hearing – with the CDC able to hand down unlimited fines, suspensions or even terminate a player’s registration in the most extreme cases. Both the players and the ECB, whose legal team are the prosecution in this instance, then have 14 days to appeal should they wish.
Were the pair to be found guilty and suspensions follow, Hales could receive a stronger net punishment than Stokes as the regulations permit time already served to be factored in. The one-day opener missed two England games at the end of the 2017 season – a costly spell, given Jason Roy took his place in the side and has been a mainstay ever since – while Stokes sat out five Ashes Tests and 11 white-ball internationals in total.
The CDC panel, which is chaired by the former Derbyshire batsman Tim O’Gorman and also includes Mike Smith, a former England left-armer, and Chris Tickle, an employment tribunal judge who has sat on Warwickshire’s committee, undoubtedly faces a complex task in determining the damage to the sport’s reputation.
Footage of the pair’s involvement in the fight – not least that published by the Sun newspaper – does not fit in with English cricket’s desire for a clean-cut, family-orientated image.
Late-night drinking midway through a series, while not breaking any team curfew at the time, is also problematic and has already led to three other players out that evening – Jake Ball, Liam Plunkett and Jonny Bairstow – being fined £1,000 each.
Stokes has long maintained his fight with Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali – both of whom were also acquitted during the trial – was a case of defending Kai Barry and William O’Connell after they were subjected to alleged homophobic abuse. The pair, though not called as witnesses during the court case, have since thanked the all-rounder publicly for stepping in.
Hales faced no criminal charge but it was established during the court case that he kicked Ali during the melee and misled a police officer at the time of Stokes’s 2.35am arrest by claiming to have not been present. The 29-yearold is expected to argue the kick was caused by panic and in response to a bottle being wielded; attempts to calm the situation later on in the fracas also go in his favour.
While there is one last hurdle to cross this week, a drawn-out affair for both the players and the ECB is approaching a resolution. Ed Smith, the national selector, who is due to pick the Test squad for January’s tour to the Caribbean on Monday, will doubtless also welcome some clarity as regards the availability of the pair, with attention turning to the next summer’s World Cup and Ashes.