IT’S A COP-OUT AS STOKES CLEARED
Slap on wrist means he’s free to tour West Indies
English cricket finally drew a line last night under the ugly scenes at Bristol that have haunted the game for 15 months, when Ben stokes and Alex hales were controversially cleared to tour the Caribbean in the new year.
The long saga that started with two of England’s players becoming embroiled in a brawl outside a nightclub in the early hours, in the middle of a one-day series, ended with something of a cop-out from the Cricket Disciplinary Commission.
stokes, who was found not guilty of affray in the court case last summer that followed the incident, and hales, who escaped criminal charges, were both suspended and fined by the supposedly independent
three-man panel. But the bottom line is that the commission, chaired by former Derbyshire batsman Tim O’gorman, backdated all their bans to allow stokes to feature in three Tests against West indies and hales in the one-day series that follows.
stokes was suspended for six games after pleading guilty to bringing the game into disrepute, for becoming involved in a fight with two men, and two more games for appearing to mock the disabled son of TV personality Katie Price in a video that emerged after the incident. he was also fined a total of £30,000.
And as he missed the whole of last year’s Ashes and the one-day series against Australia that followed, as well as the last two one-day matches of that 50-over series against West indies in 2017, it has been decided the ban has been served.
hales, who also pleaded guilty, was suspended for four white-ball matches for his role in the Bristol brawl — a video published by The
Sun newspaper appeared to show him kicking a man in the head — and two more games for lewd images that were posted online in the aftermath of the incident.
The notts batsman, who also missed the last two matches against West indies, was fined a total of £17,500 and ordered to undergo ‘appropriate training’ at his own cost within the next three months. But, crucially, the rest of his suspension and £10,000 of his fine were suspended.
At least, finally, there was a show of remorse and a full apology to supporters from stokes at the end of an affair that has caused so much negative publicity, so much expense and so much inconvenience to so many people in English cricket.
‘i accept the decision of the panel,’ said stokes in a statement. ‘i had entered guilty pleas to bringing the game into disrepute much earlier in the process and i want to thank the panel for their time and consideration.
‘The criminal and disciplinary charges have made it difficult to make public comment about the issues but i have apologised to my team-mates, coaches and support staff for the consequences of my actions in Bristol.
‘i regret that the incident ever happened and i apologise to England supporters and to the public for bringing the game into disrepute. i want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this process.
‘Cricket and family are my life. This incident has been a huge burden for the last 15 months. i am relieved to get back playing the game that i love without this hanging over me.
‘i have learned lessons that will stay with me for much longer.’
There was also a show of remorse from hales, who lost his 50- over place to Jason Roy after the incident and will pay a bigger price than any suspended fine or ban by now probably missing out on a starting World Cup place.
‘There is no doubt i fell below the high standards expected of an international sportsman and that was the reason for my decision to admit the charges and accept the punishment handed out,’ said hales in a statement.
‘More than anything i sincerely apologise for putting myself in a position which allowed these very regrettable incidents to happen. now all i want to do is concentrate on cricket and i would love to be part of a squad that wins the World Cup next summer in front of our own fans.’
if there are any losers in the whole affair it is the ECB, who appeared more concerned at being sued by their star player than doing the right thing after the brawl.
now they have to pick up the pieces at a time when they are so desperate to appeal to a new, family audience.
‘We accept the decisions made by the commission and the sanctions they have given,’ said ECB chief executive Tom harrison. ‘Today is a strong reminder of the values that sit at the heart of our game and the standards that should always be expected.’
Whether it is a reminder of those values is questionable but at least this was a welcome if belated show of contrition from the players.
The key now is whether both players really do learn from this, accept they have got off lightly and ensure nothing like it ever happens again.
There is no doubt the whole England squad and the coaching staff have been fully behind stokes — even though his justifiable absence for the Ashes cast a huge cloud over everything they did on and off the pitch.
That is because he is not only a hugely gifted all-round cricketer but also a totally committed team man who, as he said in his statement, lives for his cricket and was clearly bereft to be on the outside while England were being beaten.
it is what he does after hours that will need to be continually monitored by the team and advisors who must start to show the right, strong example to him. There has always appeared less sympathy within the England set-up for hales, who was alleged to have gone to play golf the day after the incident without fully
informing the management of what had happened.
Now all concerned will want to put the saga behind them but never again can the players show such a lack of responsibility and surely never again can Stokes be the vice-captain of a Test team that he remains so important to.
These are exciting times for England in white- and red-ball cricket. Yesterday’s verdicts hardly helped that, but if Stokes in particular goes on to become the truly great player he should be without transgressing off the pitch, it could still be a landmark day for English cricket.