Just let ‘bad boy’ show his skills

OPINION: If all the handwringing, head-shaking and breathless outrage is any guide, let’s just deport Ben Stokes now.

Guilty as charged, they bellow. No place on any cricket pitch on this earth. Point of order: Stokes has not been charged, nearly three months after an alarming video of him punching a man on a Bristol street went around the world.

It’s an emotional debate that consumes cricket right now, and there’s no absolute right answer. But there remains a strong, reasoned argument for the star England allrounder to stride unshackled onto Rangiora’s Mainpower Oval today in Canterbury colours, without prelitigating his case (if the Crown Prosecution Service decides there is one to answer).

For now, let the mums, dads and anyone else in the region decide whether they hand over $15 to watch one of the world’s top cricketers play down the road. Plenty will, and Canterbury Cricket says tickets are selling fast and there could be a sellout (perhaps hopefully).

Others won’t and that’s their choice.

In cricket, it’s the biggest thing to happen in Rangiora since the day former NZ Cricket boss Justin Vaughan shook hands on a deal with coach John Wright at the Blue Rooster Cafe.

In terms of box office star power it’s hard to top Stokes. Maybe Chris Gayle or David Warner, neither with squeaky clean images either.

And there’s the ‘‘welcome home’’ angle, after father Ged moved the family to England’s north to coach rugby league when young Ben was 12.

The Black Caps would have unfurled the welcome mat in a heartbeat for the matchwinning Christchurch born-and-raised allrounder if life had taken a different turn.

Should Canterbury Cricket take a moral stand? No. It will emerge from this Stokes’ flirtation with minimal damage and will make money from him via gate sales.

More than likely he was signed for a bargain basement price.

It’s professional cricket, Canterbury are struggling on the field and if a world-class player lands in your lap, so to speak, very few chief executives will say no.

The only fault of Canterbury Cricket is the ham-fisted way it dealt with the Stokes’ speculation as he jetted to New Zealand.

Chief executive Jeremy Curwin denied contact with Stokes to our reporter at the same time NZ Cricket confirmed talks were under way, and British media were being told he was set to play for Canterbury.