‘Street brawler Ben Stokes was defending gay men from abuse’
BEN Stokes’s brawl outside a nightclub was sparked by the England cricketer defending gay men from homophobic slurs, it was claimed yesterday.
The 26-year-old could be charged with assault over the incident after footage emerged appearing to show him throwing 15 punches in a minute.
Stokes was suspended on full pay until further notice by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) – meaning he is almost certain not to be on the Ashes tour when players fly out next month.
The England vice- captain had been arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm after the brawl in Bristol at 2.35am on Monday.
But a source close to the England team yesterday claimed the altercation had been a result of Stokes – who was with batsman Alex Hales – defending two gay men said to be victims of homophobic abuse.
The one-minute mobile phone clip shows Stokes punch a man clutching a bottle. They topple to the ground and exchange blows before Stokes is pulled away.
He then hits a second man before appearing to hit the man holding a bottle in the face. There are shouts of, ‘Calm down,’ and: ‘That’s enough Stokesy,’ on the footage obtained by The Sun.
one of the men, a 27-year-old, needed hospital treatment for facial injuries, while it is believed Stokes has broken a finger on his right hand.
But a source close to the England team said: ‘Stokes stepped in to help two gay guys who were being abused. They were very obviously together, holding hands, and these yobbish lads had a pop at them. It was enough for Stokes and Hales to step in. Stokes came up to them and said, “Look lads, f*** off.”
‘Then one of them picked up a bottle.
‘He’s being kept under lock and key – he’s not being allowed to make a statement.
‘By all accounts he’s obviously devastated. But to his mind he was trying to be a peacemaker. obviously he’s now gutted and asking why he did what he did. He’s hiding out somewhere until it all dies down.’
Hales has also been suspended by the ECB and is helping police with inquiries.
Friends say Stokes, who is engaged to the mother of his two children Clare Ratcliffe, will no longer attend teammate Jos Buttler’s stag do in Amsterdam this weekend.
Miss Ratcliffe, 27, was not at her family home in Westonsuper-Mare yesterday.
The incident may threaten Stokes’s contract to play in the Indian Premier League next year – potentially worth about £1.7million.
And the all-rounder, who was born in New Zealand, is set to lose a bat and kit deal with New Balance that is thought to be worth about £200,000 a year.
Stokes and his team-mates had spent Sunday night in Bristol celebrating their one- day win over the West Indies in the Queens Road area of Bristol, which is popular with students.
A bar worker at the Mbargo nightclub claimed the two men in the video had been involved in an altercation with Stokes earlier in the night.
The man, who asked not to be named, said: ‘Ben Stokes and Alex Hales had come into the club which was hosting a freshers’ week event.
‘It seems that there was an altercation with two male students in the club but no punches were thrown.’
‘The two cricketers then left the club and went to nearby Lola Lo nightclub. At about 2am they tried to get back into Mbargo but were refused entry because they were too drunk and because the club was closing down.
‘It appears that they walked round the corner and outside Sainsbury’s on Clifton Triangle bumped into the two people they had argued with before, and that’s when Stokes got into a fight and hit one of them.’