Now more England stars face rap over Stokes fight night
ENGLAND players could be reprimanded if their behaviour contravened expected conduct on the night of the brawl that left Ben stokes’s ashes place hanging by a thread.
the ECB are awaiting investigations by avon and somerset Police into the altercation in Bristol and the passing of a review of events to their cricket discipline commission.
a five-man panel will scrutinise the one- day team’s social activities and look into claims that players including Jake Ball, liam Plunkett and Jonny Bairstow were also out drinking late in the aftermath of victory over West indies nine days ago. Jimmy anderson is in the clear as he was only in Bristol working for sky.
there have been no curfews imposed during trevor Bayliss’s tenure as England coach.
But nor were there set guidelines at the 2007 World Cup when players received written warnings for staying out beyond midnight after a one-day match against new Zealand in st lucia, with England facing Canada two days later.
stokes, who along with alex Hales has been suspended on full pay, is due to be interviewed by police under caution following the incident that left a man in need of hospital treatment for facial injuries and stokes with a fractured finger.
the 26-year-old has kept a low profile since footage of the incident emerged and is not expected to attend the Professional Cricketers’ association annual awards dinner in central london tomorrow.
the announcement of central contracts for 2017- 18 was pencilled in for that day but is likely to be delayed so as not to detract from those being honoured for on-field performances this summer.
England are also delaying the naming of the one-day squad for australia to the end of the week. the series is four months away but the timing allows overlooked players to seek engagements at tournaments like the Big Bash league and Pakistan super league while places still remain. Meanwhile, a trio of test discards were named in the 17-man England lions squad to shadow the ashes this winter.
Keaton Jennings, tom Westley and Mark Wood will be part of a training camp that starts in Brisbane a week before England face australia at the gabba.
However, it is not a given that if a replacement for stokes is necessary they will come from within this squad. With no likefor-like candidate, the selectors might be tempted to name two players: a dynamic batsman such as liam livingstone, Jos Buttler or Jason roy plus a fast bowler from Wood, steven Finn and Plunkett. the squad includes Dan lawrence and Jamie Porter of Essex, although arguably the most intriguing pick from Chelmsford is Chris silverwood as bowling coach, He is among the front-runners to succeed ottis gibson, who left to become head coach of south africa. LIONS SQUAD: Dom Bess (Somerset), Joe Clarke (Worcs), Paul Coughlin
(Notts), Alex Davies (Lancs), Ben Duckett (Northants), George Garton (Sussex), Nick Gubbins (Middlesex), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Keaton Jennings (Lancs), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Liam Livingstone (Lancs), Saqib Mahmood (Lancs), Jamie Porter (Essex), Amar Virdi (Surrey), Tom Westley (Essex), Mark Wood (Durham).