Stokes seriously in doubt for Ashes tour

The England and Wales Cricket Board took the first step to banning vice-captain Ben Stokes from the Ashes tour when they suspended him and Alex Hales indefinitely yesterday.

Both remain on full pay pending the ECB’s own disciplinary process and the separate police investigation but, as things stand, Stokes will not be going to Australia after footage emerged of the street brawl that led to his arrest.

Stokes has been requested to attend a Bristol police station over the next week to be interviewed again by detectives.

Hales will be interviewed separately under caution. Neither has been charged.

There are those at the ECB who would still like to see Stokes in Australia given his importance to the team but events spiralled out of the board’s control when the film of him knocking a man to the ground was published. To add further embarrassment, a video has emerged of Stokes mimicking the 15-year-old disabled son of TV personality and model Katie Price.

It is inconceivable Stokes will remain as England’s test vicecaptain and he could face a lengthy ban from the ECB after Andrew Strauss, the team’s director of cricket, referred the case to an independent cricket disciplinary commission after viewing the footage of the fight.

The ECB did not use the word suspension in the statement it issued and with only one cricket match left in the season – Sunday’s one-day international – there is hardly anything to ban them from anyway.