Heavily on broad shoulders

for Stokes to lose a £200,000 bat sponsorship deal.

Opinion of his involvement in the incident and subsequent punishment by his employers, even among England supporters who came to watch Stokes yesterday, continues to be divided.

“If you take cricket out of the equation and look at what he has actually done . . . if you did that in any other line of work you’d probably be sacked,” Oxford-raised Andy Stock said. “So the fact he’s got a chance of playing in the Ashes is questionable, but at the same time I want to see him play. He’s probably our most important player; he can bat, bowl, field. He brings so much to the team.”

Matthew Sansome, hailing from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, donned his England shirt alongside three Kiwi mates under an umbrella. Stokes’ value as an extra seam option was enough to convince the Auckland Grammar Year 12 student he had to be included.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board made their mind up with the punishment but . . . they have to call him up for Perth,” he said. “It won’t look good for the game — in terms of public image England will probably take a hit — but in terms of trying to win the test match England stand a much better chance with Stokes than they do without him.

“With Ben Stokes you know he can change a game. My worry for him would be coming off what he has he’s going to get sledged by not just the players but the crowd as well. Can he be mentally strong enough to block all that out?”

Stokes’ knock here which featured four boundaries and lasted 11 overs represented an improvement on his first outing in Rangiora last Sunday, when he also came in at No 4 and

If you take cricket out of the equation . . . if you did that in any other line of work you’d probably be sacked. Oxford-raised Andy Stock

made two from seven balls.

Rust was again evident in this, his second appearance since September. So, too, his effortless, game-changing power. With one blow, Stokes left Mitchell McClenaghan no chance despite the former Black Caps leftarmer needing to cover all of 10 metres at long off.

But in between Stokes was scratchy, and his disappointing dismissal, trapped leg before wicket while attempting to sweep a full delivery from legspinner Tarun Nethula when set on 34, perhaps summed up his head space.

Stokes claimed one outfield catch, and finished with 0-39 from seven overs, on the back of 0-49 from nine last weekend.

On a flat surface he largely bowled back-of-length and struggled for rhythm, overstepping once. McClenaghan’s 4-41 and 1-30 from Black Caps quick Lockie Ferguson easily upstaged the 26-year-old Englishman.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky yesterday, but clearly a few still linger over this world-class cricketer.