STOKES VOW TO CLEAR NAME
England all-rounder’s return on hold as he’s charged with affray over Bristol brawl
THe dark cloud that hung over england throughout their doomed Ashes campaign, fleetingly lifted by Jason Roy’s heroics on Sunday, returned with a vengeance yesterday when Ben Stokes was charged with affray.
Stokes, suspended from international cricket since the fracas in Bristol that turned england’s world upside down, vowed last night to clear his name after the Crown Prosecution Service finally decided he has a criminal case to answer.
england’s best player is one of three men facing charges after a fight outside the Mbargo nightclub in the early hours of September 25 last year, in which one man is alleged to have suffered a fractured eye socket.
Stokes will appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on a date to be arranged facing a charge that carries a maximum penalty when tried on indictment in the crown court of three years in prison. The two other men charged were named as Ryan Ali and Ryan Hale.
More immediately, the 13 members of the full eCB management board will decide tomorrow via a conference call whether Stokes should be allowed to resume his international career while awaiting his day in court.
‘i gave a full and detailed account of my actions to the police on day one, the same day as the incident, and have cooperated at each step of the police inquiry,’ said Stokes on Twitter.
‘i am keen to have an opportunity to clear my name but, on advice, the appropriate time to do this is when the case comes to trial.
‘The CPS decision to charge me, as well as Ryan Ali and Ryan Hale, at least means that my account of what happened that night can come out in court and be made public. Until then my focus is very much on cricket.’
The big question is how much cricket Stokes, 26, will be allowed to focus on while his long wait for the case to reach court goes on.
The eCB decided he could play no part in the Ashes while he had the threat of criminal charges hanging over him and must now judge whether he can return with england after such a serious charge was made against him.
england have named their former vice- captain in each squad they have selected since the incident, but have been at pains to stress they were only doing so to make sure they were not seen to prejudice any CPS decision.
Stokes has already been withdrawn from the one-day series in Australia that began with england’s victory in Melbourne.
now the board must decide if he can play in the Twenty20 tri- series against Australia and new Zealand next month and in the full tour of his native new Zealand that follows. it seems inconceivable england will alter their understandably tough stance at this stage and the likeliest outcome is that Stokes’s international exile will carry on until at least the summer, when the case is settled once and for all.
Only when the court case is over will the eCB disciplinary commission, under the chairmanship of former Derbyshire batsman Tim o’Gorman, decide whether any more action needs taking against Stokes and Alex Hales.
Hales was with Stokes when the fight broke out and was captured on the video of the incident that was made public by The Sun, but he has been allowed to return to england’s one-day team until the disciplinary commission sits.
There is also the question of whether Stokes, who played white-ball cricket in Christchurch in December in the hope of a belated call-up to the Ashes, can fulfil his intention of entering the indian Premier league auction later this month when he does not know whether he will be in court when the tournament takes place in April and May.
even if Stokes, who was signed for £1.7million by Pune in last year’s draft, goes ahead with his plans, it remains to be seen whether the matter will deter indian franchises from bidding such huge sums for him again. A source in india told last night that the charge could well affect his chances of getting another big iPl contract.
The charge of affray relates to fighting in public and can be heard in the magistrates’ court or crown court. it carries a maximum penalty when tried in magistrates’ court of up to six months in prison, but the possibility of much stiffer penalties applies if Stokes is tried in crown court.
Stokes’s absence from the Ashes and the shadow it cast over the team was a huge factor in the eventual 4-0 defeat by Australia and the attention on england’s extracurricular activities that caused them so much trouble and bad publicity.
now, even though they enjoyed a rare lift when Roy hit an englandrecord 180 in Sunday’s emphatic first one- day victory, their winter of discontent shows no sign of ending.